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Tgj  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  ^ 


Presented    by        C)Y\<£,   C/\\AVVaoY~. 

Division 
Section 


sec 


J 

O  U 

R  N  E  Y  I  N  G 

/ 

N 

THE 

LAND 

WHERE 

J 

E  S 

u  s 

LIVED 

BY 
v 


/ 


GERARD  B.  F.  HALLOCK,  D.D. 


S 


AMERICAN    TRACT    SOCIETY 

150    NASSAU    STREET,    NEW    YORK 


Copyright  1903 
By  American  Tract  Society 


CONTENTS. 


chapter.  page, 

i.  first  glimpses  of  the  holy  land 2 

2.  from  haifa  to  nazareth 19 

3.  nazareth,  the  childhood  home  of  jesus 29 

4.  from  nazareth  to  can  a  and  the  lake  of  galilee.  .  2)7 

5.  tiberias  and  a  sail  to  the  sites  on  lake  galilee.  .  44 

6.  our  faces  toward  jerusalem 64 

7.  jezreel,    jenin    and    dothan 80 

8.  sanur  and  samaria 88 

9.  shechem   and  the   samaritans 96 

10.  sychar  and  jacob's  well 108 

11.  Joseph's  tomb  and  southward  to  shiloh 116 

12.  from  shiloh  to  bethel 125 

13.  from  bethel  to  jerusalem 134 

14.  jerusalem,  the  holy  city i4i 

15.  jerusalem,  the  holy  city  (continued) i49 

16.  to  bethany  and  the  good  samaritan  inn 160 

17.  the  brook  cherith  and  jericho l68 

18.  to  gilgal  and  the  dead  sea i76 

19.  the  jordan  and  the  pilgrims'  bathing-place 185 

20.  journeying  toward  bethlehem 194 

21.  bethlehem,  where  jesus  was  born 202 

22.  the  pools  of  solomon  and  the  road  to  hebron 2l6 

23.  hebron  and  abraham's  oak 227 

24.  from  jerusalem  to  ramleh 237 

25.  the  plains  of  sharon,  lydda  and  joppa 246 

26.  some  sacred  localities  outside  of  palestine 255 

supplemental  notes 273 

bibliography  292 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/journeyinginlandOOhall 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


frontispiece — "our  galilee  and  samaria  party"  in  camp 

at  turmus  aiya,  near  shiloh 

opposite  page 

haifa.,  near  the  foot  of  mt.  carmel l6 

our    dragoman 24 

our  camp  at  nazareth 24 

nazareth  32 

the  fountain  of  the  virgin,  nazareth 38 

the  lake  of  galilee 44 

tiberias    56 

resting  near  the  horns  of  hattin 70 

women  and  children  around  the  spring  at  cana 70 

the  plain  of  esdraelon  from  jenin 80 

the  tower  of  jezreel 80 

the  church  of  st.  john  in  samaria,  now  a  mosque.  .  92 

ruins  of  herod's  temple,  samaria 92 

a  samaritan  priest 104 

the  curb  of  jacob's  well 114 

"women  grinding  at  the  mill" 124 

general  view  of  jerusalem 134 

the  entrance  to  jerusalem  by  jaffa  gate 14° 

david   street,   jerusalem i46 

greek  chapel  in  the  church  of  the  holy  sepulchre, 

jerusalem    152 

interior  of  the  mosque  of  omar,  jerusalem 1 58 

the  tomb  of  lazarus,  bethany 164 

the  good  samaritan  inn  on  the  road  to  jericho 17° 

the  dead  sea 180 


6  THE  LAND  WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

shepherds  fording  the  jordan iox> 

pilgrims   entering   bethlehem 200 

the  grotto  of  the  nativity 210 

the  pools  of  solomon 220 

tanning  goat-skins  bottles,  hebron 228 

Abraham's  oak,  near  hebron 234 

the  tower  of  ramleh 24o 

the  plain  of  sharon 246 

landing  place,  jaffa 254 

natives  eating  dinner 264 

sheep  and  shepherds 278 


A  FOREWORD. 


These  notes  of  happy  and  exceedingly  profitable 
days  of  travel  in  the  Land  Where  Jesus  Lived  are 
hereby  dedicated  to  those  who  have  made  the 
journey  and  wish  to  remember  it, — especially  to  the 
eight  hundred  and  twenty  members  of  the  "Celtic" 
Cruise  of  1902  in  remembrance  of  pleasant  journey- 
ings  together, — to  those  who  hope  to  make  the 
journey  and  wish  to  prepare  for  it,  and  to  those  who 
cannot  make  the  journey  and  wish  to  read  about  it. 

We  have  had  in  mind  in  the  preparation  of  the 
volume  also  that  vast  host  of  noble  workers  in  the 
Sunday-school,  as  teachers  and  officers,  and  scholars 
too,  whose  representatives  are  to  meet  in  the  World's 
Sunday  School  Convention  at  Jerusalem  in  April, 
1904,  and  who  whether  going,  or  tarrying  at  home, 
might  find  such  a  book  interesting  to  read  or  helpful 
in  their  work.  G.  B.  F.  H. 


CHAPTER  I. 

FIRST  GLIMPSES  OF  THE  HOLY  LAND. 

•|C  ew  indeed  are  there  who  do  not  feel  an  intense 
<**  desire  to  visit  Palestine — to  view  its  sacred 
scenes  and  tread 

"Those  Holy  Fields 
Over  whose  acres  walked  those  blessed  feet 
Which,  [nineteen]  hundred  years  ago,  were  nailed 
For  our  advantage,  on  the  bitter  Cross." 

These  words  of  Shakespeare — household  words 
they  are — well  define  the  feeling  which  moves  within 
so  many  hearts  and  throughout  so  many  lands.  It 
need  scarcely  be  said,  then,  that  it  was  in  happy  ful- 
filment of  the  dream  of  a  lifetime  when,  a  few  short 
months  since,  we  found  ourselves,  and  in  the  fortu- 
nate companionship  of  so  many  others  like-minded, 
on  the  way  for  a  visit  to  the  Holy  Land. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  state  that  in  the  whole 

company  there  were  over  eight  hundred  and  thirty. 

It  ought  also  to  be  recorded,  as  a  testimony  to  God's 

gracious  and  providential  care,  that  in  this  great 

number  there  occurred  not  one  death,  not  one  case 

of  serious  illness,  and  no  accident  that  resulted  in  the 
2 


io        THE  LAND  WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

least  physical  harm.  And  as  for  our  ship,  we  scarce- 
ly knew  that  we  were  on  the  sea,  so  steady  and  strong 
she  sailed. 

As  we  have  already  intimated,  it  was  with  no  idle 
curiosity  or  desire  to  gratify  a  taste  for  mere  "sight- 
seeing" that  we  set  out  to  make  a  journey  through 
the  land  where  Jesus  lived.  And,  writing  now  at 
this  distance  and  after  the  lapse  of  weeks,  and 
through  no  hasty  impulse  of  enthusiasm,  we  wish  to 
testify  that  the  visit  exceeded  our  expectations,  prov- 
ing not  only  full  of  interest  and  instruction,  but 
opening  up  the  pages  of  the  Bible  as  nothing  else 
could  do.  To  actually  look  upon  and  walk  about  the 
localities  where  God's  Israel  toiled,  and  journeyed, 
and  fought  battles,  and  built  altars,  and  offered  sac- 
rifices— where  patriarchs  sat  in  their  tent  doors — 
where  angels  came  down  as  messengers  from  heaven 
— where  the  Saviour  himself  walked  and  talked  and 
performed  his  mighty  works — where  the  ear  has 
heard  the  songs  of  the  same  birds,  the  murmur  of 
the  same  streamlets,  and  the  eye  has  beheld  the  same 
flowers  and  looked  upon  the  same  mountains  and 
hills  and  valleys  and  fruitage — where  the  feet  have 
trod  in  the  footsteps  of  Christ,  as  he  went  from  Je- 
rusalem to  Olivet,  from  Olivet  to  Bethany,  and  from 
Bethany  to  Galilee — to  have  rested  at  noon-tide  upon 
the  same  well — to  have  wandered  along  the  margin 
of  the  lake  upon  whose  sunlit  bosom  he  preached 


FIRST  GLIMPSES  n 

to  such  vast  multitudes — to  have  ascended  the  moun- 
tains where  he  uttered  his  "beatitudes"  and  fed  the 
hungry  thousands — these  things  have  inspired  the 
mind  and  thrilled  the  soul  with  experiences  that  can 
never  be  forgotten,  and,  we  trust,  that  can  never 
lose  their  influence.  It  would  seem,  indeed,  as  some 
one  has  said,  that  "next  to  going  to  heaven  a  visit 
to  the  land  where  heaven  was  revealed  to  man  and 
where  redemption  for  the  race  was  wrought  out 
might  prove  in  fact  the  most  valuable  and  inspiring 
human  experiences." 

We  entered  Palestine  not  by  the  usual  way,  but 
by  what  is  denominated  "the  back  door."  That  is, 
we  did  not  go  first  to  Joppa  and  thence  to  Jerusalem, 
but  first  to  Haifa,  further  north,  then  to  Nazareth 
and  Galilee,  and  overland  to  Jerusalem ;  though  some 
of  our  party  went  in  to  Galilee  and  back  to  Haifa 
again  and  from  there  to  Joppa  and  Jerusalem ;  and 
a  still  larger  number  went  only  to  Joppa  and  Jeru- 
salem and  that  general  vicinity. 

Considering  its  immense  influence  in  the  history 
of  the  world,  the  first  thing  that  strikes  the  mind  of 
student  or  visitor  is  the  surprising  smallness  of  the 
land.  Though  in  former  times  the  land  in  Israel's 
possession  was  larger,  yet  in  the  time  of  our  Saviour 
it  included — and  the  same  is  meant  to-day  when  we 
speak  of  Palestine — only  the  territory  between  the 
Mediterranean  Sea  and  the  mountains  east  of  the 


12        THE  LAND  WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

Jordan,  and  between  the  Lebanon  mountains  on  the 
north  and  the  desert  on  the  south.  In  other  words, 
its  length  is  from  Dan  to  Beer-sheba,  or  about  170 
miles,  and  its  breadth  from  the  Mediterranean  to  a 
little  east  of  the  Jordan,  an  average  of  about  thirty- 
five  miles.  It  forms  a  territory  about  the  size  of  the 
State  of  Vermont,  or  of  Maryland,  or  about  one- 
fifth  the  size  of  the  State  of  New  York.  This  is  the 
land  where  Jesus  lived;  and  in  all  his  journeyings 
he  never  travelled  over  as  much  as  one-half  this 
small  territory.  Every  traveler  in  Palestine,  no  mat- 
ter how  well  informed  he  may  be  in  sacred  geog- 
raphy, is  surprised  at  the  smallness  of  the  territory. 

Yet  it  is  the  greatest  land  on  earth — the  land  of 
the  Bible — the  land  where  Jesus  lived — the  land 
that  has  influenced  the  world  as  no  other  land  has 
ever  done  or  ever  will  do ;  and  we  doubt  not  that  it 
is  for  this  very  reason  it  seems  so  impossible  for  one 
whose  eyes  have  not  seen  it  and  whose  feet  have  not 
walked  over  it,  to  conceive  how  small  is  the  space 
which  it  covers.  When  one  is  journeying  over  it  for 
the  first  time,  he  never  ceases  to  be  surprised  at  find- 
ing the  holy  places  so  near  to  one  another. 

From  many  a  mountain-top  it  can  almost  all  be 
seen  in  the  sweep  of  one  look.  Moses,  who  was  not 
allowed  to  enter  it,  saw  from  the  top  of  a  lofty 
mountain  on  the  east  side  of  the  Jordan  all  the  land 
of  Canaan  spread  out  before  him  like  a  great  map 


FIRST  GLIMPSES  13 

on  a  table.  His  view  was  from  the  southeast.  But 
the  same  thing-  is  possible  from  other  positions. 
From  a  hill  that  rises  only  five  hundred  feet  above 
Nazareth,  toward  the  north  of  Palestine,  and  only 
sixteen  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  we 
plainly  saw  snow-capped  Hermon  in  the  north,  and 
the  mountains  round  about  Jerusalem  in  the  south, 
while  our  ship  lying  at  anchor  in  the  harbor  at 
Haifa  was  plainly  visible  in  the  waters  of  the  Medi- 
terranean on  the  west,  as  were  also  the  basin  of  Lake 
Galilee  and  the  mountains  of  Moab  and  Gilead 
beyond  Jordan  on  the  east. 

But  this  land,  small  as  it  is,  is  wonderfully  diver- 
sified with  seas  and  plains,  mountains  and  valleys, 
hills  and  dales,  lakes  and  rivers,  and  running  rills, 
and  it  has  every  variety  of  climate  and  soil,  and 
yields  almost  all  kinds  of  fruits  and  flowers,  and  of 
vegetable  and  agricultural  products. 

The  reason  for  this  will  become  plain  when  we 
consider  the  topography  of  the  land.  The  land  is 
made  up,  in  a  general  way,  of  two  ridges  of  moun- 
tains and  two  bands  of  depression.  The  first  range 
of  mountains  lies  between  the  Mediterranean  and  the 
Jordan,  and  runs  north  and  south.  The  second 
range  is  parallel  but  east  of  the  Jordan.  This 
makes  a  wide  band  of  foot-hills  and  plain  along  the 
coast  region,  toward  the  Mediterranean,  a  high  ridge 
of  table-lands  and  mountains  between  that  and  the 


14        THE  LAND  WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

Jordan,  then  the  Jordan  valley,  and  still  beyond  the 
Mountains  of  Gilead  and  Moab,  to  the  east.  These 
features  in  themselves  would  give  a  great  variety 
of  climate  and  product,  but  add  to  them  the  fact 
that  from  taking  its  rise  in  the  snow-capped  Hermon 
the  Jordan  flows  down  until  at  the  lake  of  Galilee 
it  is  over  six  hundred  feet  below  the  level  of  the  sea, 
and  at  the  Dead  Sea  is  in  a  hot,  low  tropical  depres- 
sion thirteen  hundred  feet  below  the  level  of  the  sea. 
There  is  nothing  like  this  in  any  other  part  of  the 
world.  It  is  not  the  smallness  of  the  country  that 
is  the  wonder  now.  The  wonder  is  the  universality 
which  the  creative  hand  of  God  has  packed  into  this 
smallness.  As  some  one  has  said,  "Palestine  is  the 
world  in  a  nutshell." 

A  noted  scientist,  who  has  spent  the  most  of  his 
life  in  the  study  of  the  natural  features  Of  the  land, 
says,  "There  is  not  another  spot  on  earth  where  so 
much  of  nature  is  focused  as  in  this  little  corner. 
You  have  Alpine  cold  and  torrid  heat.  Here  are  the 
animals,  birds,  insects,  plants,  shells,  rocks,  of  all 
zones." 

This  is  why  the  illustrations  drawn  from  nature 
with  which  the  Bible  abounds  are  suited  to  all  climes 
and  are  understood  by  all  men.  "The  Bible  is  the 
world-book  made  in  a  world-land.  As  the  Jew  is  the 
miracle  of  history,  even  so  the  cosmopolitan  land 
of  the  Jew  is  the  miracle  of  geography.     The  land 


FIRST  GLIMPSES  15 

and  the  people  and  the  Book  constitute  a  trinity  of 
truth,  and  the  testimony  of  the  one  is  strengthened 
by  the  testimony  of  the  others."  Such  as  these  are 
among  the  reasons  why  a  visit  to  the  land  is  of  such 
inestimable  value. 

Palestine !  Here  we  are  at  anchor  in  the  Bay  of 
Acre,  Mount  Carmel  towering  above  us  from  out  the 
sea  and  the  little  city  of  Haifa,  at  its  base,  asleep 
beside  the  tranquil  waters  of  its  beautiful  harbor.  It 
is  very  early  morning;  but  soon  all  our  passengers 
are  awake  and  about,  many  declaring  that  the  one 
view  from  the  deck  of  our  vessel  is  worth  the  entire 
cost  of  our  trip  across  the  sea.  For  not  only  is  the 
view  itself  a  charming  one,  but  the  land  over  which 
we  are  looking  is  the  Holy  Land,  Palestine,  the  land 
of  Israel  and  of  the  prophets  and  of  the  apostles 
and  where  angels  have  often  talked  with  men.  Yes, 
it  is  the  land  where  Jesus  lived,  where  he  Walked  and 
talked  and  taught  and  wrought  his  miracles  and 
died  that  we  might  live ! 

In  the  Bible,  on  account  of  its  sacred  associations, 
the  land  is  given  various  titles.  It  is  called  the 
Holy  Land,  Zech.  2:12,  the  pleasant  land,  Dan.  8 :  9, 
the  glorious  land,  Dan.  11 :  16,  the  Lord's  land,  Hos. 
9:3,  the  land  which  the  Lord  sware  to  Abraham, 
to  Isaac  and  to  Jacob,  Gen.  50 :  24,  and  the  land  of 
promise,  Heb.  11:9.  From  its  inhabitants  at  differ- 
ent  periods  it  is  called  the  land  of   Canaan,  Gen. 


1 6        THE  LAND  WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

11:31,  the  land  of  the  Hebrews,  Gen.  40 :  1 5 ,  the  land 
of  Israel,  1  Sam.  13  119,  and  Palestine,  which  is  now 
familiarly  applied  to  the  whole  country,  though 
when  used  in  the  Old  Testament  it  had  the  original 
and  narrower  sense  of  Philistia. 

Haifa  is  soon  awake,  as  well  as  the  people  on  our 
ship.  The  copper-colored  natives  are  rilling  into 
boats  and  coming  out  to  meet  us  and  row  us  to  the 
shore.  While  they  are  coming  let  us  note  what  we 
can.  We  are  facing  the  east.  Yonder,  on  the  left, 
are  the  hills  of  Lebanon,  running  back  to  the  tower- 
ing mountains  whence  King  Solomon  obtained  cedar 
trees,  fir-trees  and  algum  trees  for  the  temple  in 
Jerusalem,  2  Chron.  2:8-18.  To  our  right  is  Mount 
Carmel,  jutting  out  into  the  sea  and  sloping  upward 
and  eastward  toward  the  mountains  of  Samaria. 
Just  in  front  is  the  Plain  of  Acre  and  the  mouth  of 
the  river  Kishon,  on  the  banks  of  which  we  see  the 
waving  palm-trees  and  green  gardens.  In  the  dis- 
tance, at  the  northern  end  of  the  sickle-shaped  bay, 
seemingly  rising  right  out  of  the  sea,  is  the  city  of 
Acre,  called  Accho  in  Judges  1:31,  one  of  the  oldest 
and  historically  most  interesting  cities  in  the  world, 
whose  early  inhabitants,  the  Phoenicians,  are  given 
the  credit  of  having  invented  the  alphabet,  discov- 
ered how  to  make  dyes,  and  of  having  been  the  first 
to  manufacture  glass.  It  is  possible  that  some  of  the 
tear-bottles  members  of  our  party  bought  on  shore 


FIRST   GLIMPSES  17 

were  specimens  of  their  ancient  work.  In  apostolic 
times  there  were  Christians  here,  and  Paul  once 
visited  them,  Acts  21:7.  Perhaps  no  city  of  the  same 
size  in  the  wide  world  has  had  so  strange  and  cheq- 
uered a  history.  Richard  L,  of  England,  and  Philip, 
of  France,  purchased  its  conquest  once  at  the  sacri- 
fice of  100,000  troops.  They  gave  it  to  the  Knights 
of  St.  John,  of  Jerusalem,  who  named  it  St.  Jean  D' 
Acre.  But  they  could  not  hold  it.  Napoleon  Bona- 
parte once  besieged  it  for  sixty-one  days.  He  failed, 
and  afterwards  said :  "My  failure  to  take  it  changed 
the  destiny  of  the  world."  At  last,  in  1840,  the 
united  fleets  of  England,  Austria  and  Turkey,  sailed 
into  its  beautiful  harbor  and,  after  a  bombardment 
of  three  hours,  left  it  utterly  demolished.  From  this 
downfall  it  is  but  very  slowly  recovering.  As  we 
look  again  shoreward,  far  in  the  distance  to  the 
northeast,  we  see,  plainly  in  sight,  snow-capped  and 
ever  majestic  Mt.  Hermon,  while  nearer,  yet  in  the 
same  general  direction,  are  the  hills  that  lie  round 
about  the  vicinity  of  Nazareth. 

Now  on  shore,  we  pass  through  the  swaying, 
noisy  crowd  of  eager  inhabitants,  all  bent  upon  sell- 
ing something,  from  an  orange  to  a  valuable  histori- 
cal relic;  by  a  provision  of  our  agent  we  pass  the 
custom  house  officers  with  a  nod,  without  having  to 
open  our  baggage;  we  are  seized  by  our  dragomen 
and  soon  are  in  carriages,  sight-seeing  in  the  city, 
3 


18      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

or  else  out  on  our  way  to  Nazareth.  The  city  con- 
tains about  12,000  inhabitants,  manufactures  soap, 
olive-oil  and  wine,  which  with  wheat,  maize,  sesame 
and  wool  are  largely  exported.  It  has  two  Moham- 
medan mosques,  several  Christian  churches,  schools, 
a  hospital  and  a  thriving  German  colony,  known  as 
the  Templars.  A  little  distance  up  on  Mt.  Carmel 
is  a  sanitarium,  a  hotel,  and,  further  up,  the  famous 
Carmelite  Monastery. 


CHAPTER  II. 

FROM  HAIFA  TO  NAZARETH. 

Hs  we  have  said,  our  first  sight  of  the  Holy  Land 
was  from  near  the  harbor  of  Haifa,  in  the  Bay 
of  Acre,  just  north  of  the  promontory  of  Carmel. 
The  great  central  ridge  of  mountains  is  cut  in  twain 
here  by  the  plain  of  Esdraelon  and  the  valley  of 
Jezreel,  and  the  mountains  of  Carmel,  running 
southeast  and  northwest,  are  an  exception  to  the 
general  description  of  the  land  given  in  our  opening 
chapter. 

Though  we  had  known  it  was  there,  the  first  sur- 
prise that  greeted  our  eyes  on  landing  at  Haifa  was 
the  sight  of  a  railway  track.  This  railroad  is  in- 
tended to  go  from  Haifa  to  the  Jordan  and  the  Lake 
of  Galilee  and  from  thence  to  the  ancient  city  of 
Damascus.  The  track  is  laid  about  five  miles,  but 
the  road  is  graded  and  the  bridges  built  as  far  as  we 
went  toward  the  Jordan.  We  must  say  that  it  looked 
strangely  out  of  place  in  Palestine,  and  yet  we  may 
well  hope  that  it  will  soon  be  completed.  Any  one 
who  has  gone  over  the  so-called  roads  of  Palestine, 
as  they  now  are,  will  see  the  reason  for  this  wish. 


20      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

We  were  all  prepared  to  appreciate  the  frontier  farm- 
er's description  of  a  road  in  his  country,  which  was, 
he  said,  first  a  wagon  track,  then  a  bridle  path,  then 
a  squirrel-track,  and  then  ran  up  a  tree !  One  thing 
is  certain,  that  the  roads  are  quite  generally  notable 
for  their  absence. 

There  is  a  so-called  road  from  Haifa  to  Nazareth. 
We  were  placed  in  heavy  stages,  four  persons  to 
each,  with  two  horses  in  front,  and  an  extra  one  at 
the  side,  hitched  by  a  strange  contrivance  to  the  body 
of  the  carryall.  All  we  can  say  is  that  it  was  an 
actual  relief  when  at  Nazareth  the  road  came  down 
to  a  bridle-path  and  we  abandoned  the  stages  finally 
and  took  to  horseback  for  the  balance  of  the  journey. 

The  distance  from  Haifa  to  Nazareth  is  twenty- 
three  and  one-half  miles.  It  was  the  sixth  of  March, 
and  as  the  latter  rains  were  over  the  ground  the 
whole  distance  was  fairly  enamelled  with  beautiful 
flowers  of  brightest  hue.  In  the  low  lands  above 
Haifa  palm  trees  were  growing  in  abundance  and  the 
gardens  were  green  with  semi-tropical  vegetation. 
Here  and  there  all  along  our  path  were  sturdy  live- 
oaks  or  orchards  of  fig  and  olive  trees.  At  half  a 
mile  from  Haifa  was  passed  a  little  Jewish  colony 
— recently  established — for  bear  in  mind  this  strange 
fact,  that  there  are  but  few  Jews  in  all  Palestine, 
except  those  who  have  gone  there  in  comparatively 
recent  years  from  other  countries,  the  population 


FROM  HAIFA    TO   NAZARETH  21 

being  largely  native  Syrians,  Arabs,  a  few  Turks  and 
quite  a  few  Europeans. 

At  one  mile  from  Haifa  we  left  the  gardens  and 
entered  the  plain  of  Kishon,  going  along  near  the 
river  or  brook  Kishon.  After  passing  a  number  of 
small  villages  and  ruins  we  came  in  sight  of  that 
portion  of  Mount  Carmel  near  which  Elijah's 
slaughter  of  the  prophets  of  Baal  is  said  to  have 
taken  place. 

Just  here  we  may  well  give  a  brief  description  of 
Mount  Carmel  itself.  The  mountain  of  Carmel  is, 
as  is  well  known,  a  lengthened  promontory  or  ridge 
stretching  from  the  mountains  of  Samaria  in  a  long 
line  to  the  northwest  toward  the  sea,  and  is  fre- 
quently mentioned  in  the  Bible  period.  It  is  of  lime- 
stone formation  and  is  especially  rich  in  vegetation, 
due  to  its  proximity  to  the  sea  and  the  heavy  dews 
that  fall  upon  it.  Its  highest  point  is  1,810  feet, 
opposite  Harosheth  where  our  road  branched  off 
toward  Nazareth.  Back  toward  the  sea  the  moun- 
tain slopes  down  to  a  height  of  about  six  hundred 
feet,  and  on  a  shelving  promontory  at  480  feet  eleva- 
tion is  the  famous  Carmelite  Monastery,  from  which 
the  Carmelite  order  of  monks  received  its  name. 
The  aboriginal  inhabitants  regarded  this  mountain 
as  sacred,  and  at  a  very  early  period  in  Jewish  his- 
tory it  was  denominated  "The  Mount  of  God." 
Its  beauty  is  often  extolled  in  the   Bible,  as  when 


22      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

Isaiah  prophesies  of  the  Church,  "The  glory  of 
Lebanon  shall  be  given  unto  it,  the  excellency  of 
Carmel  and  Sharon;"  or,  as  in  Solomon's  Song, 
magnifying  the  Church's  graces,  "Thine  head  upon 
thee  is  like  Carmel."  It  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
thickly  populated  in  ancient  times,  as  it  certainly  is 
not  now,  but  it  was  frequently  sought  as  an  asylum 
by  the  persecuted,  on  account  of  its  many  natural 
grottoes  in  the  soft  limestone  rock,  in  some  of  which 
are  still  seen  inscriptions  placed  there  by  hermits  and 
religious  refugees.  In  the  twelfth  century  the 
hermits  here  began  to  be  regarded  as  a  distinct  order, 
and  in  1224  they  were  set  apart  as  such  by  the  Pope 
at  Rome.  There  are  now  some  eighteen  or  twenty 
monks  there  living  in  a  large,  clean  and  airy  build- 
ing, and  they  make  a  business  of  entertaining  pil- 
grims on  an  extensive  scale. 

It  was  across  the  valley  opposite  the  highest  point 
of  Carmel,  of  which  we  have  written,  and  near  the 
village  of  Harosheth,  in  the  shade  of  a  grove  of  fine 
live-oaks,  that  we  had  our  first  lunch  and  rested  for 
an  hour  after,  on  the  day  we  began  our  journey. 
The  flower-bedecked  ground  was  our  table  and  the 
water  we  drank  was  from  a  very  doubtful  spring 
near  by.  The  village,  which  was  in  sight,  and  from 
which  the  children  and  beggars  and  venders  of  fruit 
came  down,  is  spoken  of  in  the  Bible  as  early  as  in 
the  Book  of  Judges,  where  it  is  mentioned  as  belong- 


FROM   HAIFA    TO   NAZARETH  23 

ing  to  the  Gentiles,  and  as  the  residence  of  Sisera, 
the  captain  of  the  host  of  Jabin,  King  of  Canaan, 
that  reigned  in  Hazor. 

From  here  on  the  road  became  more  rough  and 
steep,  up  and  down  hill,  over  great  stones  and 
boulders.  We  crossed  the  famous  threshing  floor 
and  further  on  saw  one  or  two  portions  of  what 
was  once  a  splendid  Roman  road,  and,  within  four 
miles  of  Nazareth,  stopped  a  few  moments  at  the 
rather  pretty  little  village  of  Yafa,  or  the  Japhia 
which  is  mentioned  in  the  nineteenth  chapter  of 
Joshua.  There  is  an  ancient  tradition  that  this 
village  was  the  home  of  Zebedee  and  of  his  sons,  who 
became  the  apostles  James  and  John.  We  were  told 
that  Josephus  once  fortified  this  place.  There  is  in 
the  village  a  Protestant  school,  two  Latin  churches, 
and  a  Greek  church  and  school. 

Though  most  people  would  probably  choose  if 
they  might,  on  their  entrance  into  the  Holy  Land,  to 
see  Jerusalem  first,  we  somehow  felt  that  we  were 
almost  fortunate  in  the  fact  that  the  first  considerable 
city  we  saw  was  Nazareth — the  home  of  our  Saviour, 
and  where  he  spent  nearly  the  whole  of  his  human 
sojourn  upon  the  earth. 

We  had  no  chance  to  anticipate  the  place  by 
previous  glimpses  from  a  distance,  for  it  nestles  in 
a  basin  in  the  midst  of  an  amphitheatre  of  hills  that 
rise  on  all  sides  nearly  five  hundred  feet  above  it. 


24      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

We  were  approaching  from  the  west,  and  after 
ascending  a  little  slope  of  the  mountain,  the  town 
suddenly  burst  upon  us,  the  whole  city  at  once,  with 
its  dazzling  white  walls  and  embowered  in  fig 
orchards,  pomegranate  groves  and  beautiful  gardens. 
Our  caravan  descended  quickly  down  a  good  road 
into  the  town,  and  our  coming,  as  can  easily  be 
imagined,  caused  no  little  excitement.  Children  ran 
out  the  way  to  meet  their  fathers  and  women  came 
to  greet  their  husbands.  The  dogs  barked  and  the 
hostlers  hurried  this  way  and  that  with  the  horses. 
The  scene  was  one  of  rapid  movement  and  of  an 
impressiveness  not  soon  to  be  forgotten.  Part  of  the 
passengers  were  taken  to  the  convent,  part  to  the 
hotel,  but  on  the  level  threshing  floor,  at  the  lower 
edge  of  the  village,  stood  over  fifty  beautiful  white 
tents  glistening  in  the  evening  sun,  and  to  these  one 
hundred  and  fifty  of  our  party  were  taken.  The 
tents  were  large  and  comfortable,  lined  inside  with 
red  and  white  material  in  fantastic  Oriental  figures, 
each  having  three  comfortable  cots,  a  large  square 
rug,  small  table,  candles  and  other  conveniences. 
Suitable  guards  kept  watch  about  the  camp  all  night, 
to  keep  away  dogs  and  thieves  and  hyenas.  At  six 
o'clock  a  seven  course  dinner  was  served  and  by  nine 
we  were  all  abed  with  the  assurance  of  being 
wakened  at  five  in  the  morning,  in  order  to  get  an 
early  start  for  Galilee  before  the  hot  sun  should 
be  up. 


OUR    HEAD    DRAGOMAN. 


OUR  CAMP  AT   NAZARETH. 


FROM   HAIFA    TO   NAZARETH  25 

It  can  hardly  be  said  that  we  slept,  for  the  dogs 
barked  and  the  jackals  screeched,  the  guards  talked 
and  whistled,  the  horses  neighed,  and  ever  and  anon 
the  mellifluous  cadences  of  the  braying  of  numbers 
of  donkeys  were  heard.  The  reader  will  not  be  sur- 
prised to  be  told  that  the  silence  was  not  very  impres- 
sive, when  it  is  stated  that  in  our  waiting  cavalcade, 
for  use  on  the  morrow,  were  three  hundred  and 
eighty  horses,  pack  mules  and  donkeys — nearly  two 
hundred  riding  horses  for  our  party  and  the  drago- 
men,— besides  pack  animals  to  carry  all  the  tents, 
their  furnishings,  our  food  and  food  for  the  beasts, 
tables,  tableware,  camp  chairs,  cooking  utensils  and 
other  belongings.  About  the  time  we  thought  we 
had  gotten  to  sleep  we  were  awakened  by  an  inde- 
scribable din.  It  was  of  an  Oriental  band  marching 
around  our  tents.  It  sounded  like  the  beating  of 
kettles  and  drums  and  pans  with  an  occasional  tin 
horn  for  variety.  Our  dragomen  said  it  was  the 
hosts  of  Israel  marching  around  Jericho  and  pretty 
soon  the  walls  of  our  tents  would  fall  down — which 
saying  proved  true,  for  before  some  of  us  had  com- 
pleted our  toilet  the  tent  ropes  began  to  loosen,  the 
tent  walls  to  fall,  and  by  the  time  we  were  seated  at 
breakfast  they  were  all  down  and  being  safely  loaded 
on  the  backs  of  the  pack  animals. 

Before  closing  this  chapter  we  wish  to  emphasize 

again  the  importance  to  every  Bible  student  of  mak- 
4 


26      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

ing  a  study  of  the  land  as  well  as  of  the  Book,  or  of 
the  land  in  connection  with  the  Book.  This  we  can 
do  whether  we  go  to  Palestine  or  not.  But  there  cer- 
tainly is  mighty  confirmation  to  one's  faith  in  being 
able  to  see  the  land  itself.  Ofttimes  the  land  brings 
into  light  many  shades  in  the  meaning  and  many 
beauties  in  the  expressions  of  the  inspired  records 
which  had  not  before  been  perceived.  Sometimes  an 
unexpected  point  in  the  topography  of  a  place,  or  a 
feature  in  the  manners  of  the  people,  not  before 
known,  or  some  Gospel  allusion  so  presents  itself 
to  view  that  new  light  is  flashed  upon  whole  sections 
of  God's  Word.  The  land  illuminates  the  Book. 
The  land  confirms  the  Book.  The  land  adds  new 
interest  to  the  Book.  "The  land  shows  that  the 
writers  of  the  Book  were  simple,  artless  and  faithful 
chroniclers  of  events  that  are  so  strikingly  in  accord 
with  the  places  mentioned  and  the  customs  referred 
to  that  they  bear  on  their  very  face  the  unquestionable 
stamp  of  veracity  and  historic  truth.  In  the  written 
Gospels  features  of  the  common,  daily  life  of  the 
people  are  constantly  alluded  to,  many  of  which 
remain  unchanged  in  the  land  to  this  very  day.  The 
land  still  shows  that  the  words  which  the  Book  puts 
into  the  mouths  of  various  people,  the  homely  details 
of  domestic  and  social  life,  the  references  to  agri- 
cultural and  pastoral  pursuits,  the  passing  allusions 
to  the  peculiar  customs  of   the   people,  are  all  in 


FROM   HAIFA    TO   NAZARETH  27 

accord  with  the  modes  of  thought,  forms  of  belief 
and  habits  of  living  which  remain  practically  un- 
changed up  to  the  present  moment."  The  Book 
was  most  evidently  written  by  those  who  knew  the 
geography  and  topography  of  the  land,  and  the  pecu- 
liarities of  the  people  who  lived  in  it.  As  you  journey 
along  reading  the  Book  and  surveying  the  land  you 
find  the  mountains  and  the  lakes,  the  rivers  and  the 
rills,  the  hills  and  the  valleys,  the  towns  and  the  vil- 
lages all  in  their  places,  relatively  located,  and  run- 
ning in  the  courses,  just  as  described  in  the  casual 
allusions  of  the  Book.  In  other  words,  the  Book 
fits  into  the  land  just  as  a  picture  fits  into  its  frame, 
and  the  land  is  a  frame  into  which  no  other  picture 
can  be  made  to  fit. 

The  fact  is  that  God's  revelation  was  made  in  con- 
nection with  and  through  the  history  of  a  particular 
people,  namely,  the  children  of  Israel.  The  history 
of  that  people  and  God's  revelation  are  therefore 
closely  intertwined.  As  a  recent  visitor  to  Palestine 
has  well  said,  "A  divine  revelation  implies  a  history, 
and  a  history  in  turn  implies  a  locality.  Yonder  is 
the  locality,  and  we  possess  it.  It  is  Palestine.  We 
go  to  that  locality  and  study  it  and  interrogate  it  and 
by  it  prove  the  history,  and  by  the  history  prove  the 
revelation.  If  the  locality,  as  pictured  in  the  Book, 
be  false  everything  else  is  false.  If  the  locality,  as 
pictured  in  the  Book  be  true,  everything  else  is  true." 


28      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

The  internal  argument  for  the  Book  is  sufficient,  and 
we  could  and  should  accept  it  on  that.  It  is  indeed 
complete  and  satisfying.  But  God  has  graciously 
given  us  many  external  proofs  as  well ;  and  the  land 
is  one  of  them.  The  land  corresponds  with  the  Book. 
The  land  illuminates  the  Book.  The  land  illustrates 
the  Book.  The  land  confirms  the  Book.  And  right 
here,  we  believe  is  the  real  secret  of  the  fascination 
of  the  land,  the  enthusiasm  for  the  land  which  has 
existed  and  will  continue  to  exist.  "The  Holy  Land 
will  never  lose  its  attraction  for  men,  and  chiefly 
because  it  is  the  land  of  the  Holy  Book — one  of  its 
best  evidences,  one  of  its  best  expounders,  and  one 
of  the  best  incentives  to  its  study." 


CHAPTER  III. 

NAZARETH,  THE  CHILDHOOD  HOME  OF  JESUS. 

'TThe  Holy  Land  has  a  wonderful  fascination. 
Vl*  We  love  to  think  about  it.  We  love  to  hear 
about  it.  We  love  to  talk  about  it.  And,  despite 
many  hardships,  thousands  of  people  every  year  go 
to  see  it,  and  visit  its  sacred  localities.  It  has  power 
to  charm  and  hold  spellbound  the  hearts  of  men  as 
has  no  other  region  of  earth. 

And  this  feeling  is  not  something  new  in  the 
world.  From  the  very  beginning  a  sacred  halo  has 
encircled  it,  and,  if  prophecy  be  true,  will  continue 
to  encircle  it  to  the  end  of  time.  Think  of  the  spell 
which  it  cast  over  men  like  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and 
Jacob.  As  some  one  has  said,  "They  could  not  leave 
it  for  the  shortest  period  without  being  seized  with  a 
Palestine  hunger  which  immediately  brought  them 
back.  Joseph  might  have  had  an  Egyptian  pyramid 
for  his  grave  but  he  choose  the  humble  cave  of 
Machpelah  in  preference.  There  is  no  romance  in 
all  the  annals  of  patriotism  equal  to  the  unburied 
body  of  Joseph  waiting  centuries  and  in  faith,  for  a 
coming  grave  in  the  Land  of  Promise.    To  Moses 


30      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

the  land  had  such  attractions  that  he  gave  up  the 
palace  and  the  throne  of  Pharaoh  for  it.  And  when 
the  Hebrews  were  exiles  in  Babylon  such  was  their 
Canaan-hunger  that  it  drove  the  very  music  out  of 
their  harps."  They  wept  when  they  remembered 
Zion,  and  urged  how  impossible  it  was  for  them  to 
sing  the  Lord's  song  in  a  strange  land.  Was  it  not 
this  same  almost  irresistible  fascination,  manifest- 
ing itself,  to  be  sure,  in  a  possibly  not  very  sane  or 
sensible  manner,  which  inspired  the  Crusaders  of  the 
middle  ages,  and  poured  out  the  best  blood  of  Europe 
in  a  great  sacrifice  on  Palestinian  soil  ? 

Now,  this  fascinating  power  of  the  land  is  a  fact. 
There  is  no  denying  it.  But  as  a  fact  it  certainly  de- 
mands a  reasonable  explanation.  Fortunately  that 
explanation  is  perfectly  at  hand.  Abraham  and  his 
seed  loved  the  land  because  of  the  promise  that  the 
Messiah,  the  Redeemer  of  the  world,  should  be  born 
in  it,  and  live  in  it.  The  New  Testament  saints  and 
their  seed  loved  the  land  because  the  promise  was 
fulfilled,  and  Christ  their  Saviour,  as  ours,  was  born 
in  it,  and  lived  in  it.  And  as  their  spiritual  descend- 
ants, and  for  the  very  same  reason,  we  love  it  too. 
It  is  the  land  in  which  Jesus  was  born,  which  held 
his  cradle,  his  cross  and  his  tomb,  in  the  which  he 
manifested  his  perfect  and  helpful  life,  and  where 
he  spake  those  pure  and  uplifting,  life-giving  words 
which  we  find  to-day  in  the  gospels  of  his  grace. 


NAZARETH  31 

It  is  indeed  a  Holy  Land,  and  a  holy  and  sacred 
privilege  it  is  if  we  may  see  it,  or  so  study  about  or 
learn  of  it  that  it  shall  become  a  real,  intellectually 
visible,  well  known  land  to  us. 

The  hope  of  contributing  even  a  little  toward  such 
a  desirable  result  is,  we  trust,  the  only  reason  for  this 
another  volume  on  Palestine.  At  the  same  time  it 
is  the  excuse  we  wish  to  offer  for  going  into  what 
would  otherwise  seem  to  be  quite  small  and  even 
trivial  details,  such  as  are  usually  overlooked  or 
intentionally  omitted  by  those  who  write  on  the  gen- 
eral theme  of  the  Holy  Land.  Our  one  wish  is  to 
have  our  readers  SEE  the  land,  to  be  sure,  through 
the  eyes  of  another,  but  nevertheless  really  to  see  it. 
And  this  requires  that  it  shall  be  described  not  in 
bold  outlines  and  in  the  features  that  are  commonly 
emphasized,  but  that  the  background  shall  be  filled 
in,  and  that  the  smaller  and  less  important  features 
shall  be  inserted,  in  order  that  a  truly  life-like  and 
realistic  view  shall  be  given. 

Our  journey  thus  far  brought  us  to  Nazareth,  the 
childhood  home  of  Jesus,  showing  our  party  in  camp 
on  the  threshing  floor  just  below  and  on  the  edge  of 
the  village,  but  gave  no  description  of  the  little  city 
itself  or  of  its  general  surroundings. 

The  place  is  located  between  the  Mediterranean 
and  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  about  twenty-one  miles  in  a 
straight  line  from  the  one  and  seventeen  miles  from 


32      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

the  other,  and  sixty-five  miles  north  of  Jerusalem. 
It  is  a  town  of  about  seven  thousand  five  hundred 
people,  two-thirds  of  whom  are  Greek  and  Latin 
Christians,  a  few  are  Protestants,  and  the  remainder 
are  Mohammedans.  There  are  very  few,  if  any,  Jews. 
It  is  about  eleven  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
sea,  and  the  fifteen  crumpled  hills  which  "rise  around 
it  like  the  edge  of  a  shell  to  guard  it  from  intrusion" 
are  from  four  hundred  to  five  hundred  feet  higher. 
While  it  is  true  that  none  of  the  great  roads  of 
ancient  times  led  up  to  this  sunny  nook,  and  it  was 
in  this  sense  secluded,  it  lay  nevertheless  very  close 
to  the  central  route  of  travel  which  communicated 
with  the  outside  world.  Too  much  has  been  assumed, 
we  believe,  regarding  the  obscurity  of  the  town,  and 
as  for  Nathaniel's  expression,  "Can  there  be  any 
good  thing  come  out  of  Nazareth  ?"  and  whose  own 
home  was  near  by,  we  do  not  believe  that  it  carries 
with  it  any  evidence  whatsoever  that  Nazareth  was 
previously  held  in  contempt,  or  was  especially 
wicked,  but  only  that  Nathaniel  was  not  aware  of 
any  prophecies  that  would  encourage  the  belief  that 
the  Messiah  was  to  come  from  that  city. 

The  town,  as  the  modern  traveler  sees  it,  lies  on 
the  western  side  of  the  hill-encircled  basin  and 
extends  for  some  distance  up  its  slopes.  The  streets 
rise  in  terraces  and  the  flat-roofed  houses,  built  of 
the  yellowish-white  limestone  of  the  region,  shine 


NAZARETH  33 

in  the  sun  with  a  dazzling  brightness,  from  among 
the  gardens  of  fig  trees,  olives,  cypresses,  and 
the  white  and  scarlet  blossoms  of  the  orange 
and  pomegranate.  It  is  to-day,  as  it  has  been  in  the 
past,  a  quiet  rural  town,  the  abode  of  shepherds, 
craftsmen,  vine-dressers  and  tillers  of  the  soil.  The 
land,  which  seems  to  be  very  fertile,  is  divided  off 
into  little  fields  or  gardens  by  hedges  of  prickly  pear 
or  cactus. 

Of  course,  while  there  we  went  around  to  see  the 
traditional  sights  that  priestcraft  has  invented  and 
that  superstition  venerates.  They  are  the  so- 
called  "holy  places,"  shown  by  the  representatives 
of  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches.  .They  are  mostly 
comparatively  modern  creations.  But  before  we 
condemn  them  utterly  let  us  not  forget  that  they  are 
substitutes  for  realities, — realities  that  once  existed 
in  this  very  location.  The  one  thing,  however,  which 
makes  Nazareth  and  all  its  surroundings  a  holy  place 
is  the  Life  once  manifested  here,  the  blessed  memory 
of  which  and  the  influence  of  which  can  never  pass 
away. 

The  first  place  we  visited  was  the  Church  of  the 
Annunciation  which  lies  within  the  high  enclosing 
walls  of  a  celebrated  Latin  convent.  The  church 
contains  an  organ  and  several  fairly  good  paintings, 
one  being  an  Annunciation  and  another  a  Mater 
Dolorosa,  attributed  to   Terralio,  a  somewhat  well 

5 


34      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

known  Spanish  painter.  Staircases  of  a  dozen  steps 
on  either  side  ascend  to  the  high  altar,  which  is  dedi- 
cated to  the  Angel  Gabriel.  Between  these,  fifteen 
broad  stone  steps  descend  directly  to  the  chapel  of 
the  Annunciation,  in  the  crypt,  which  has  a  marble 
altar  inscribed  with  the  words,  in  Latin,  "Here  the 
Word  was  made  flesh."  Immediately  to  the  left  of 
the  entrance  are  two  columns,  one  of  which  is  said 
to  mark  the  exact  spot  where  the  angel  stood  when 
he  made  the  announcement  to  the  virgin  Mary  of 
her  coming  honor  and  the  other, — a  fragment  of  a 
column  depending  from  the  ceiling  and  reputed  to  be 
miraculously  supported — marks  the  spot  where  it 
is  claimed  the  Virgin  received  the  angel's  message. 
We  were  also  shown  the  room  in  which,  it  is  said, 
Joseph  and  Mary  lived.  This  also  contains  an  altar, 
and  on  it  is  inscribed  in  Latin,  "Here  he  was  subject 
to  them."  We  were  shown,  too,  the  place  where,  it 
is  said,  the  house  of  the  Virgin  stood,  which  in  the 
thirteenth  century  the  angels  carried  away  to  Lo- 
retto,  in  Italy,  to  keep  it  from  being  desecrated  by 
the  Moslems. 

There  were  many  other  impossible  sites  and 
absurd  and  ridiculous  relics  shown  us,  all  of  which 
we  wished  the  angels  had  carried  away  to  Italy,  or 
some  other  place.  Among  these  was  a  large  stone, 
on  which  the  priest  gravely  informed  us,  Christ  took 
his  last  meal  with  his  disciples  before  his  crucifixion, 


NAZARETH  35 

and  his  first  one  after  his  resurrection.  All  such 
monkish  traditions,  legends  and  sites  are  offensive, 
but  here  in  Nazareth  they  seemed  especially  so,  and 
more  particularly  when  we  remembered  that  most  of 
them  had  been  invented  not  through  ignorance,  but 
in  covetousness,  for  the  sake  of  the  fees  which  the 
pilgrims  and  the  tourists  pay  for  seeing  them.  It  is 
a  pity  that  the  name  of  Jesus  should  be  made  a  source 
of  merchandise  in  the  very  home  of  his  childhood. 

But  there  were  other  places  which  we  visited  with 
less  of  this  feeling.  One  was  the  so-called  workshop 
of  Joseph.  We  had  no  thought  that  it  was  the 
veritable  carpenter  shop  in  which  Jesus  worked  with 
his  reputed  father ;  but  as  it  is  a  very  old  workshop, 
and  has  in  it  a  collection  of  the  most  ancient  car- 
penter's tools,  it  conveys  to  us  an  idea,  as  near  as 
one  can  now  be  formed,  of  what  the  workshop  of 
Joseph  must  really  have  been. 

Another  is  the  synagogue  in  which  Christ  is  said 
to  have  preached,  and  from  which  he  was  cast  out. 
It  is  certainly  a  very  ancient  building.  It  is  claimed 
that  its  history  can  easily  be  traced  back  to  the  fifth 
century,  not  a  few  saying  that  at  least  the  side  walls 
are  a  part  of  the  original  building.  But  even  if 
it  is  not  the  veritable  synagogue  in  which  Jesus  wor- 
shipped with  his  parents  in  the  days  of  his  youth,  it 
is  quite  likely  that  it  stands  on  the  site  of  that  one. 
At  all  events  it  must  give  us  some  fair  idea  of  the 


36      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

appearance  of  the  place  when  Jesus  opened  to  that 
remarkable  passage  in  Isaiah,  and  in  words  that  were 
full  of  grace  and  truth, and  almost  irresistible  convic- 
tion, told  his  fellow  townsmen  that  he  himself  was 
the  Messiah  of  whom  the  prophet  spake.  But  their 
attitude  of  astonishment  and  even  admiration  soon 
turned  to  jealousy  and  hate.  And  this  suggests 
another  site  which  was  pointed  out  to  us,  namely,  the 
so-called  Mount  of  Precipitation  where,  when  the 
revulsion  of  feeling  among  his  neighbors  came  that 
day,  they  took  him  that  they  might  "cast  him  down 
headlong." 

Little  credence  it  given  to  the  traditional  site, 
which  is  more  than  a  mile  from  the  city,  but  it  is 
thought  the  true  place  is  found  back  of  the  Maronite 
church,  where  there  is  a  precipitous  cliff,  some  thirty 
or  forty  feet  in  height,  which  suddenly  terminates 
the  slope  of  the  hill  on  which  "their  city  was  built." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

FROM   NAZARETH   TO   CANA  AND  THE  LAKE  OF 
GALILEE. 

n  the  last  chapter  we  were  describing  Nazareth, 
and  had  spoken  of  some  of  its  so-called  "holy 
places,"  the  Church  of  the  Annunciation,  the  Work- 
shop of  Joseph,  the  ancient  synagogue,  the  tradi- 
tional site  of  the  Hill  of  Precipitation,  etc.  But  the 
most  interesting  place  in  Nazareth  is  the  Fountain 
of  the  Virgin,  or,  as  it  is  called,  "Mary's  Well," 
which  is  a  copious  spring  of  pure,  beautiful,  spark- 
ling water  in  the  northeastern  portion  of  the  village. 
This  is  the  public  fountain  of  the  place,  and  from 
time  immemorial  has  been  the  one  unfailing  source 
of  water  supply  to  its  inhabitants.  This  overflowing 
basin  is  the  only  thing  in  Nazareth,  aside  from  the 
natural  features  of  the  vicinity,  which  can  be  directly 
associated  with  the  home-life  of  Jesus.  The  city 
absolutely  depends  on  it.  If  it  should  dry  up,  the 
place  would  disappear.  It  was  doubtless  here  just 
the  same  and  the  city  just  as  dependent  upon  it,  two 
thousand  years  ago.  So,  when  we  follow  the  path 
that  leads  to  it  we  are  at  the  one  place  where  we  may 


38      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

feel  perfectly  sure  we  are  treading  for  the  moment 
in  the  earthly  footsteps  of  our  Lord. 

This  fountain  is  also  the  center  of  the  social  life  of 
the  city.  As  all  the  city  drinks  from  the  same  foun- 
tain, and  as  the  women  of  all  classes  fetch  the  water 
for  their  household  use,  the  whole  city  meets  daily 
for  news  and  gossip  around  this  one  spring  which 
supports  the  life  of  every  home.  Groups  of  women 
and  girls  are  always  to  be  seen  there,  and  children 
playing  in  the  sparkling  stream  that  flows  away. 
And  the  men  too  are  coming  and  going.  So  the 
sound  of  conversation  here  is  almost  as  unbroken  as 
the  flow  of  the  water,  and  every  now  and  then  there 
breaks  over  the  hum  of  voices  the  ring  of  hearty 
laughter  and  of  merry  song. 

The  scene  we  witnessed  at  the  Fountain  of  the 
Virgin  has  doubtless  been  repeating  itself  there  day 
after  day  for  centuries  upon  centuries,  back  to  the 
time  when  the  maiden  Mary  used  to  come  with  the 
other  village  maidens  and  chat  with  them  while  she 
filled  her  pitcher.  For  here,  no  doubt,  she  too,  with 
her  water- jar  on  her  head,  used  to  come  with  light 
and  graceful  step,  as  do  the  maidens  of  the  present 
day.  It  is  truly  an  Oriental  and  picturesque  sight 
one  looks  upon  here,  and  one  sees  many  bright,  intel- 
ligent faces.  As  we  stood  for  some  time  watching 
the  motley  throng  in  their  quaint  garbs  and  graceful 
attitudes,  as  they  came  and  went,  filling  their  earthen 


FROM  NAZARETH  TO  CAN  A  39 

jars  and  assisting  each  other  in  raising  them  to  their 
heads,  chattering  unceasingly  the  meanwhile,  per- 
haps retailing  the  precious  bits  of  gossip  of  the  town 
— for  bear  in  mind  they  have  no  newspapers  here — 
we  could  not  but  think  of  one,  the  fairest  of  the 
daughters  of  men,  who  long  years  ago,  with  others, 
came  to  carry  water  from  this  fountain,  which  still 
bears  her  name,  and  while  the  rest  told  all  they  knew, 
she  devoutly  "kept  all  these  things  to  herself  and 
pondered  them  in  her  heart."  There  was  cer- 
tainly much  about  this  fountain  which  seemed  to 
us  sacred  and  spoke  to  us  of  Mary  the  mother  of 
Jesus  and  of  her  divine  Son,  who  for  a  time  came 
and  dwelt  among  us  that  he  might  become  our 
divine-human  Redeemer,  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 
There  was  something  sacramental  in  standing  here 
and  witnessing  the  scenes  that  were  so  suggestive 
of  the  earthly  life  of  our  Lord. 

We  cannot  take  space  to  tell  of  the  excellent 
Christian  school  there  is  here  and  of  the  orphan 
asylum  connected  with  it,  started  by  a  wealthy  Eng- 
lish lady  many  years  ago,  and  doing  such  an  excel- 
lent work;  nor  of  the  little  Protestant  church,  the 
pastor  of  which  besides  holding  services  every  Sun- 
day, walks  over  to  Cana,  of  Galilee,  and  preaches 
every  week ;  nor  of  the  people  we  met,  the  children 
we  saw,  the  shops  we  entered,  nor  of  the  beautiful 
lace  and  other  needlework  the  women  make,  and  the 


40      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

carvings  in  stone  and  olive-wood  by  the  men,  all  of 
which  is  so  urgently  pressed,  at  ridiculously  low 
prices,  upon  the  tourists  as  they  pass. 

The  morning  was  dawning  clear  and  beautiful, 
with  not  a  cloud  in  the  sky,  as  our  cavalcade  rode 
out  of  Nazareth  and  started  for  Tiberias  and  the 
Lake  of  Galilee.  Ascending  a  steep  hill  we  had  a 
last  look,  at  least  for  a  time, — for  we  returned  that 
way — at  the  childhood  home  of  Jesus,  nestling  amid 
the  gardens  and  pomegranate  groves  on  the  distant 
hillside.  It  was  a  charming  view  and  we  looked  at 
it  again  and  again,  until  passing  around  the  shoulder 
of  a  hill,  it  was  lost  to  view. 

The  ride  is  a  very  picturesque  one,  and  we  were 
a  rather  picturesque  party. 

As  was  said  in  a  former  chapter,  of  animals  in  our 
cavalcade  there  were  three  hundred  and  eighty-four 
— riding  horses,  pack-mules  and  donkeys.  There 
were  nearly  two  hundred  riding  horses  for  our  party 
and  the  dragomen,  and  the  other  pack  animals  to 
carry  all  the  tents,  their  furnishings,  our  food,  and 
feed  for  the  beasts,  tables,  table-ware,  camp-chairs, 
cooking  utensils,  and  other  belongings.  We  were 
not  far  out  on  our  way  when  our  camp-tents  and 
baggage  passed  us,  hurrying  ahead  so  that  our 
"home"  would  be  set  up  and  our  next  meal  ready 
before  our  arrival.  The  baggage  animals  carried 
bells  and  made  a  great  din  in  passing.     The  bells 


FROM  NAZARETH  TO  CANA  41 

themselves  are  quite  a  local  affair,  being  like  three 
or  four  bells  hanging  within  one  another.  They  are 
not  unmusical,  but  the  general  appearance  of  the  pro- 
cession was  ludicrously  shabby  and  droll.  Yet  we 
did  not  despise  it  at  all,  for  it  represented  "home" 
to  us  for  the  time  being. 

But  there  were  people  in  our  party  who  looked 
ludicrous,  as  well  as  the  pack-animals.  Some  of 
them  had  never  been  on  horseback  before,  and  we 
cannot  say  that  their  pose  was  very  graceful,  though 
not  one  failed  to  keep  to  his  or  her  task  with  great 
pluck  and  persistence.  Then,  too,  a  few  of  the  party 
were  in  palanquins.  Now  "palanquin"  sounds  de- 
cidedly Oriental  and  suggests  a  certain  luxurious- 
ness,  but  in  this  case,  is  deceptive.  A  palanquin  is 
made  of  plain  boards,  painted  brown  and  roofed 
with  leather  cloth,  and  looks  like  the  body  of  a  coupe 
swinging  in  the  middle  of  and  between  two  enor- 
mously heavy  poles.  These  poles  projecting  far  to  the 
front  and  the  rear  form  shafts  between  which  the 
patient  mules,  one  at  each  end,  are  securely  har- 
nessed. Of  course,  one  poor  beast  plods  along  day 
after  day  with  his  nose  close  up  to  the  back  of  the 
palanquin.  The  whole  establishment  is  most  comical 
in  appearance,  but  invaluable  in  case  one  is  too  weary 
to  ride  horseback  or  is  ill;  though  we  never  quite 
envied  the  people  that  rode  in  them,  for  the  ups  and 
downs  of  the  two  mules,  picking  their  way  over  the 


42      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

stony  ground,  gave  the  palanquin  and  its  passenger  a 
motion  that  we  can  compare  only  to  that  of  a  small 
boat  in  a  storm  at  sea.  The  mules  themselves  are 
not  much  in  evidence,  for  they  well-nigh  disappear 
under  the  amount  of  harness,  saddle  and  gearing. 
But  happily  they  are  helped  along  by  two  dragomen, 
one  at  the  head  of  each  mule. 

As  we  had  gotten  an  early  start  we  arrived  at 
Tiberias,  on  the  shore  of  Galilee,  about  noon,  and 
had  our  lunch  on  the  ground  near  the  walls  of  the 
ruined  castle,  on  the  north  side  of  the  place,  the  hot 
sun  beating  down  perpendicularly  upon  us.  On  our 
way  we  had  passed  through  Cana  of  Galilee,  where 
Christ  performed  his  first  miracle,  of  turning  water 
into  wine,  and  where  is  the  reputed  home  of  the 
apostle  Nathaniel  (Bartholomew)  ;  and  alongside 
Mount  Tabor,  lying  to  the  south ;  and  the  Horns  of 
Hattin,  lying  to  the  north.  This  mountain  is  a  two- 
topped  hill  with  one  peak  rising  much  higher  than 
the  other,  and,  according  to  tradition,  is  the  Mount 
of  Beatitudes,  where  Christ  preached  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  to  such  a  vast  multitude.  Just  after  we 
passed  the  Horns  of  Hattin  we  saw  seven  beautiful 
wild  gazelles,  one  of  our  dragomen  foolishly  dis- 
charging his  revolver  at  them,  and  ere  long  some 
storks  and  a  jackal.  But  we  will  say  little  now  of 
this  part  of  the  journey,  for  we  made  our  stops  and 
visits  to  the  places  of  interest  on  our  return,  since 


FROM  NAZARETH  TO  CAN  A  43 

we  came  back  as  far  as  Nazareth  by  the  same  road. 
We  will  add  only  this,  that  when  we  reached  the  top 
of  a  high  hill  above  Tiberias,  and  the  whole  view  of 
the  Lake  of  Galilee  and  its  surroundings  burst  upon 
us  at  once,  we  were  all  simply  charmed  with  the 
sight.  The  enthusiasm  on  all  sides  was  intense. 
We  do  not  believe  it  is  possible  to  exaggerate  the 
beauty  of  the  scenery  nor  the  amount  of  interest  it  is 
likely  to  awaken  in  the  heart  of  every  beholder, 
especially  every  one  who  cares  at  all  for  the  gospel 
story.  For  it  was  here,  in  this  beautiful  territory, 
right  here  before  our  eyes,  that  Christ  spent  most  of 
his  public  life  and  where  most  of  his  mighty  works 
were  done.  Let  any  reader  be  assured  that  he  is  not 
wasting  enthusiasm  or  fixing  it  upon  an  unworthy 
or  disappointing  spot  when  he  sings, 

"Galilee,  bright  Galilee, 
Hallowed   thoughts   we  turn   to  thee," 

or, 

"I  love  to  think  of  Jesus  as  he  sat  beside  the  sea, 
And  the  waves  came  murmuring  in  upon  the  strand," 

or  when  he  conceives  of  it  as  one  of  the  most  beauti- 
ful regions  it  is  possible  for  the  eye  to  look  upon. 


CHAPTER  V. 

TIBERIAS  AND  A  SAIL  TO  THE  SITES  ON  GALILEE. 

'TThe  Bible  was  not  written  for  Orientals  alone; 
^^  but  it  is  well  for  us  to  remember  always  in  read- 
ing it  that  it  was  written  by  Orientals,  in  Oriental 
lands,  and  in  Oriental  languages.  It  uses  Oriental 
words  and  phrases  and  figures  of  speech.  Its  refer- 
ences are  to  Oriental  customs  and  manners  and 
scenes.  It  is  perfectly  plain,  therefore,  that  the 
better  we  understand  Oriental  life  and  habits  and 
languages  the  better  will  we  understand  this  Oriental 
Book. 

We  do  not  mean  to  imply  that  any  one  who  may 
read  the  Bible  anywhere  and  in  any  language  may 
not  find  gospel  truth  amply  sufficient  to  make  him 
wise  unto  salvation  and  to  prove  of  inestimable  help 
in  his  Christian  life.  But  what  we  do  mean  to  say 
is  this,  that  there  are  degrees  in  the  understanding 
of  the  Bible,  and  that  there  is  great  value  in  any 
studies  that  give  us  a  knowledge  of  Oriental  life 
or  that  cast  upon  the  Bible  lights  from  its  Oriental 
source. 


SAIL  TO  THE  SITES  ON  GALILEE      45 

It  has  been  well  said :  "We  are  Westerners,  and 
we  live  in  a  new  age  and  under  new  conditions  of 
life.  To  be  sure,  they  are  immensely  better  times 
and  immensely  better  conditions  of  life,  but  they 
are  essentially  different  from  those  in  which  the  Bible 
was  written.  The  result  is  that  many  of  the  figures 
of  speech  and  of  the  references  employed  in  the 
Bible  as  perfectly  simple  and  intelligible  to  those 
for  whom  it  was  first  written,  now  require  explana- 
tion in  order  to  be  understood  by  those  who  have 
been  trained  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  in  later 
times,  and  under  changed  conditions  of  life." 

For  example,  when  we  read  in  the  Bible  that  in 
the  dark  days  of  adversity  there  shall  no  longer  be 
heard  in  the  streets  "the  voice  of  the  bridegroom 
and  the  voice  of  the  bride,"  we  have  nothing  in  our 
Occidental  experiences  to  explain  this  common 
figure  of  speech.  As  some  one  has  said,  "Bride- 
grooms and  brides,  in  our  Western  civilization,  are 
not  accustomed  to  cry  or  shout  in  the  city  streets — at 
least,  so  long  as  they  live  peaceably  with  one  another ! 
But  when  we  learn  that  both  the  bride  and  the  bride- 
groom in  Oriental  countries  are  accompanied 
through  the  streets  by  separate  processions,  and  that 
hardly  any  event  in  Eastern  social  life  is  the  occasion 
of  such  hilarity,  or  of  such  vociferous  rejoicing  as 
a  marriage  ceremony,  we  gain  a  fresh  understanding 
of  the  force  of  this  Bible  illustration." 


46      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

Similarly,  the  words  of  John  the  Baptist  concern- 
ing his  delight  in  the  welcome  given  to  Jesus  as  the 
Messiah  are  meaningless  without  an  explanation  of 
their  Oriental  significance.  "He  that  hath  the  bride 
is  the  bridegroom,"  said  John;  "but  the  friend  of 
the  bridegroom,  which  standeth  and  heareth  him, 
rejoiceth  greatly  because  of  the  bridegroom's  voice : 
this  my  joy  therefore  is  fulfilled.  He  shall  increase, 
but  I  must  decrease."  Now,  just  what  is  the  exact 
reference  and  meaning?  It  is  this.  In  the  east 
the  bridegroom  does  not  see  his  bride  before  their 
marriage,  hard  as  that  would  seem  to  us!  The 
"friend  of  the  bridegroom"  arranges  the  match.  It 
may  be  a  father,  or  mother,  or  a  missionary — as  is 
often  the  case  in  these  days — or  some  other  "go- 
between."  But  when  the  bridegroom  meets  the 
bride,  if  he  is  satisfied,  he  communicates  the  fact  to 
the  waiting  guests,  and  their  cry  of  rejoicing  informs 
the  friend  of  the  bridegroom,  the  "go-between,"  of 
the  good  result,  and  of  course  greatly  gratifies  him 
with  the  knowledge  that  he  has  done  his  part  well. 
John  the  Baptist  had  prepared  the  way  for  the 
coming  of  the  Bridegroom,  Jesus,  to  his  Bride,  the 
Church,  and  when  he  found  that  the  union  was 
hailed  with  delight  he  was  glad  to  know  that  his 
mission  was  accomplished. 

Again,  when  we  hear  Jesus  sending  out  his  disci- 
ples hurriedly  to  preach  the  gospel,  and  telling  them, 


SAIL  TO  THE  SITES  ON  GALILEE      47 

"Salute  no  man  by  the  way,"  we  would  be  quite  at 
a  loss  to  understand  his  meaning  did  we  not  know  of 
the  habit  of  Eastern  greetings,  with  their  long, 
time-consuming  and  almost  senseless  series  of  ques- 
tions and  answers,  and  of  the  numberless  bowings 
and  scrapings  and  genuflections  employed.  It  was 
a  command  to  the  disciples  to  haste,  to  lose  no  time, 
to  do  their  work  quickly  as  its  importance  demanded. 

Or  when  he  sent  them  out  two  by  two,  telling 
them  to  take  nothing  for  their  journey,  we  must  be  at 
a  loss  till  we  comprehend  the  prevalence  of  the 
spirit  of  hospitality  in  the  East. 

Until  we  know  of  the  primitive  lamps  of  the  Bible 
times,  with  their  open  receiver  for  oil  or  melted 
tallow,  a  simple  rag  or  bit  of  flax  for  wick,  and  the 
care  needed  to  keep  the  reservoir  filled  and  the  wick 
burning,  how  can  we  take  in  the  full  force  of  such 
a  Bible  expression  as  this :  "The  smoking  flax  shall 
he  not  quench;"  which  is  intended  to  tell  with  pecul- 
iar emphasis  of  the  tenderness  and  patient  love  of  a 
Saviour  who  will  even  revive  a  dimly  burning  wick 
of  spiritual  life  which  otherwise  would  surely 
expire  ? 

All  that  we  have  said  of  the  importance  of  a  study 
of  the  customs  and  manners  and  languages  and 
times  of  the  Bible,  may  be  said  with  equal  emphasis 
regarding  the  importance  of  a  study  of  the  land  of 
the  Bible — its  mountains  and  hills  and  valleys,  its 


48      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

streams,  its  cities,  its  villages,  its  soil,  its  products, 
its  people.  As  was  said  in  the  first  chapter,  the 
land  illustrates  the  Book;  the  land  illumines  the 
Book ;  the  land  confirms  the  Book ;  the  land  intensi- 
fies the  interest  of  the  Book.  A  friend  of  the  writer, 
recently  returned  from  the  Holy  Land,  remarked 
that  since  he  had  been  to  Palestine  the  Bible  had 
become  a  new  book  to  him.  We  wish  to  add  our 
own  testimony  to  his,  and  to  assure  the  reader  that 
this  is  practically  the  united  voice  of  all  Bible 
students  who  are  privileged  to  visit  the  Holy  Land. 

But  it  is  not  our  desire  to  indulge  in  any  discus- 
sion about  the  land,  but  to  give  the  reader,  as  we 
said  before,  so  far  as  possible,  a  realistic  vision  of 
it — to  have  each  one,  even  if  it  must  be  through  the 
eyes  of  another,  to  see  it  as  it  really  is.  We  there- 
fore hasten  on  with  the  description  of  our  journey 
from  the  point  at  which  we  closed  in  the  last 
chapter. 

We  had  had  a  good  look  at  the  beautiful  Lake  of 
Galilee  from  the  hillside  a  thousand  feet  above,  and 
had  come  down  with  our  party  to  the  camp,  near  the 
citadel,  and  just  outside  the  broken  walls  of  Tiberias. 

The  modern  city  of  Tiberias  occupies  but  a  small 
portion  of  the  site  of  the  ancient  city,  of  Herod 
Antipas,  which  extended  much  further  to  the  south, 
possibly  nearly  to  Hammath,  a  mile  below,  where 
are  the  hot  sulphur  springs  and  the  baths  that  the 


SAIL  TO  THE  SITES  ON  GALILEE      49 

old  Romans  used  to  value  so  highly,  and  which  are 
even  still  much  frequented.  This  place,  Tiberias, 
has  had  the  reputation  of  being  the  filthiest  city  in 
Palestine,  and  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  may 
be  a  true  estimate.  It  is  especially  famous  as  the 
residence  of  that  diminutive  animal  who,  when  you 
put  your  finger  on  him,  isn't  there!  The  Arabs 
have  a  saying  that  the  king  of  all  the  fleas  resides 
in  Tiberias. 

The  city  was  built  by  Herod,  between  20  and  27 
A.  D.,  on  the  site  of  an  old  cemetery,  and  given  its 
name  in  honor  of  Tiberias  Caesar,  who  was  then  the 
Emperor  of  the  Roman  Empire.  This  Herod  was 
the  man  before  whom  Jesus  was  tried  in  Jerusalem, 
Luke  23 :  7,  and  the  son  of  Herod  the  Great,  who 
was  king  in  Jerusalem  when  Christ  was  born.  He 
was  "tetrarch  of  Galilee  and  Perea,"  and  made 
Tiberias  his  capital  and  the  largest  and  most  im- 
portant city  in  his  dominions.  Here  he  had  his 
palace  and  lived  with  Herodias,  his  brother  Philip's 
wife,  in  comparative  peace  until  the  voice  of  John 
the  Baptist  came  ringing  up  the  Jordan  valley  pro- 
testing against  his  sin,  Mark  6: 18.  From  this  city 
the  order  went  out  for  John's  arrest.  It  was  here 
also  that  Herod  had  his  birthday  feast  when  the 
daughter  of  Herodias  danced  before  him,  Mark 
6: 14-29,  and  asked  for  John  the  Baptist's  head  in 
7 


50      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

a  charger.     It  is  not  known  that  Christ  ever  visited 
the  city. 

After  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus, 
Tiberias  became  the  residence  of  the  few  Jews  who 
were  allowed  to  remain  in  Palestine.  The  Sanhe- 
drim was  transferred  here  from  Sepphoris.  In  the 
second  century  the  place  became  a  noted  seat  of 
Hebrew  learning,  and  continued  to  be  so  for  nearly 
two  hundred  years.  Here  the  traditions  of  the 
elders,  which  had  been  transmitted  before  for  many 
generations  orally,  were  committed  to  writing  in  the 
form  now  known  as  the  Mishna.  About  the  middle 
of  the  second  century  the  Jerusalem  Talmud  was 
also  compiled  here,  and  here  the  work  of  the  Maso- 
retic  critics  was  commenced,  resulting  in  the  "West- 
ern" or  "Tiberian"  pointing  of  the  Hebrew  Bible, 
which  is  now  universally  accepted.  And  not  only 
do  we  get  our  Hebrew  text  from  Tiberias,  but 
indirectly  we  have  our  Latin  translation  from  this 
city  also ;  for  it  was  a  scholar  of  Tiberias  from  whom 
St.  Jerome  learned  Hebrew,  and  so  was  able  to 
translate  the  Old  Testament  into  the  Vulgate.  It 
was  here  also  lived  the  celebrated  Jewish  writer  of 
the  twelfth  century,  Maimonides,  and  here  he  died 
and  was  buried,  his  tomb  being  pointed  out  to  us  in 
the  old  unfenced  graveyard  back  of  the  town. 
Christianity  early  obtained  a  foothold  here,  but 
found  much  opposition  in  the  early  heathenism  and 


SAIL  TO   THE  SITES  ON  GALILEE       51 

the  later  Judaism  of  the  city.  It  flourished  notwith- 
standing, and  by  the  fifth  century  there  were  Chris- 
tian bishops  in  Tiberias.  The  Arabs  conquered  the 
city  in  637,  but  the  bishopric  was  reestablished  by  the 
Crusaders,  though  it  was  made  subordinate  to  that 
of  Nazareth. 

The  place  as  we  see  it  today  is  surrounded  by  a 
wall,  with  four  gates  on  the  four  sides  of  the  quad- 
rangle. It  is  further  strengthened  by  strongly  built 
towers,  one  at  each  corner  and  one  midway  the  wall 
on  every  side.  The  wall  is  greatly  shattered  in 
many  places,  and  entirely  prostrate  in  some,  while 
the  large  and  massive  castle  at  the  northwest  corner 
is  also  a  ruin.  This  wreck  was  effected  by  a  fearful 
earthquake  which  visited  this  region  on  January  1st, 
1837.  It  not  only  ruined  the  walls,  but  it  threw 
down  most  of  the  dwellings  in  the  city  and  killed 
about  one-half  of  the  population.  The  walls  where 
they  are  entire  are  about  twenty  feet  high  and  from 
six  to  ten  feet  thick. 

The  town  has  a  population  of  about  six  thousand, 
about  two-thirds  of  whom  are  Jews,  many  of  them 
being  somewhat  recent  immigrants  from  Russia. 
They  live  largely  on  the  alms  sent  from  Europe,  and 
may  be  seen  wearing  their  heavy  high  hats  and  fur 
capes  even  in  mid-summer.  There  are  a  number  of 
synagogues  in  the  place,  a  recently  restored  Moham- 
medan mosque,  with  its  handsome  minaret,  a  Latin 


52      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

church  and  monastery,  a  church  and  monastery  of 
the  orthodox  Greeks,  a  partly  modernized  building 
which  bears  the  pretentious  name  of  "Hotel  Tiber- 
ias," and  several  excellent  buildings  belonging  to 
the  prosperous  mission  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scot- 
land, including  a  hospital.  Aside  from  these,  and 
possibly  a  few  other  prominent  buildings,  the  town 
is  made  up  of  low,  rambling,  flat-roofed  hovels,  and 
is  certainly  in  no  wise  an  attractive  place  in  which 
to  live. 

There  is  no  other  town  of  size  on  the  lake,  though 
this  general  region  about  Galilee  was  once  densely 
populated,  with  at  least  nine  cities  of  over  fifteen 
thousand  each,  and  the  whole  coast-line,  varying 
from  a  narrow  ribbon-like  strip  of  green  in  some 
places  to  the  over  two-mile-wide  Plain  of  Gennesaret 
toward  the  northwest  end  of  the  lake,  was  filled 
with  a  teeming  multitude  of  people,  engaged  in  agri- 
culture, fishing,  boat-building,  and  various  other 
occupations. 

Our  visit  to  this  northern  portion  of  the  lake  was 
made  in  boats,  heavy  fishing-boats,  holding  about 
ten  persons  each,  part  of  the  time  propelled  by  sails, 
and,  when  the  wind  did  not  blow  hard  enough,  by 
four  strong  oarsmen.  We  wonder  whether  Christ 
was  asleep  in  such  a  boat  when  the  storm  arose,  and 
the  disciples  became  "sore  afraid."  We  think  it 
must  have  been  such,  for  the  "little  ships"  of  which 


SAIL  TO  THE  SITES  ON  GALILEE      53 

the  evangelists  speak,  were  nothing  more  nor  less 
than  fishing-boats,  then  in  everyday  use  along  these 
shores.  And  to  think  that  the  waves  here  have 
never  been  entirely  at  rest  since  they  rippled  against 
the  shores  at  Jesus'  feet !  Is  that  Simon  Peter's  boat 
there  in  front  of  us?  How  easy  it  seemed  for  us 
to  forget  that  we  were  looking  at  the  men  and 
women  of  today,  and  for  us  to  imagine  that  we  had 
before  us  the  fisher-folk  and  the  boats  that  swarmed 
this  sea  in  those  early  days.  It  was  a  most  enjoy- 
able ride,  for  the  water  is  most  beautifully  bright 
and  clear,  almost  as  delicate  a  blue  as  the  Bay  of 
Naples,  and  the  atmosphere,  though  it  was  the 
seventh  of  March,  was  as  soft  and  warm  as  on  a 
pleasant  summer  evening.  In  its  ordinary  condition 
the  whole  lake  is  a  water-mirror  of  rare  beauty  and 
reflective  power,  and  the  play  of  the  lights  and 
shadows  on  its  surface  and  upon  the  surrounding 
hills,  amid  the  ever-varying  atmospheric  changes 
from  sunrise  to  sunset,  greatly  enhances  the  charm 
of  its  natural  features.  As  some  one  has  well  said, 
"In  the  rich  warm  glow  of  the  setting  sun,  which 
seems  to  impart  to  this  lake-region  a  peculiar  glory, 
the  beloved  disciples  must  often  have  witnessed  the 
counterpart  of  that  scene  in  holy  vision,  which  he 
described  as  'a  sea  of  glass  mingled  with  fire.'" 

The  first  place  we  passed  as  we  went  up  the  west- 
ern coast  was  El  Mejdel,  the  Magdala  of  the  New 


54      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

Testament,  the  home  of  Mary  Magdalene,  the  de- 
voted friend  of  Jesus  and  to  whom  he  first  showed 
himself  after  his  resurrection.  It  is  a  collection  of 
hovels  of  mud  and  stone,  about  thirty  in  number, 
and  certainly  has  a  very  desolate  appearance.  The 
place  lies  at  the  foot  of  a  hill,  close  to  the  water's 
edge,  and  at  the  southern  opening  into  the  Plain  of 
Gennesaret.  Its  name,  Me j del,  is  hardly  altered 
from  the  ancient  Magdala,  or  Magdol,  so-called 
probably  from  a  watch-tower — for  that  is  the  mean- 
ing of  the  name — of  which  the  ruins  appear  to  re- 
main, that  once  guarded  the  entrance  to  the  plain. 
The  site  is  very  beautiful,  commanding  a  fine  view 
of  the  sea. 

A  short  distance  from  Mejdel,  on  the  left  side  of 
the  plain,  lies  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  castle.  The 
cliffs  here  are  about  one  thousand  one  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  in  height  and  the  castle  consists  of  caverns 
in  the  rock.  These  caverns  are  connected  by  pas- 
sages and  protected  by  walls,  and  possess  several 
old  cisterns  for  the  preservation  of  water  and  food. 
This  inaccessible  fastness  was  once  the  haunt  of 
robbers.  Herod  the  Great  besieged  them  here,  and 
only  succeeded  in  reaching  and  breaking  up  their 
nest  by  letting  down  soldiers  in  cages  by  ropes  to 
the  mouths  of  the  caverns.  These  caverns  were 
afterwards  occupied  by  hermits,  and  it  is  one  of  the 
strange  sights  of  Palestine  to-day  to  see  so  many 


SAIL  TO  THE  SITES  ON  GALILEE      55 

places  in  the  mountain  sides  and  on  their  tops, 
seemingly  absolutely  inaccessible,  occupied  by  monks 
and  hermits  and  so-called  penitentiaries,  or  places 
of  religious  penance. 

The  next  place  to  which  we  came  was  Khan 
Minyeh,  now  quite  generally  believed  to  be  the  site 
of  the  Capernaum  of  the  New  Testament  times. 
It  is  at  the  other  extremity  of  the  Plain  of  Gennes- 
aret,  where  the  mountains  again  approach  the  sea. 
Here  are  two  or  three  modern  buildings  and  a  mass 
of  earth-covered  ruins. 

As  the  reader  doubtless  knows,  volumes  could  be 
written,  and  some  have  been  written,  filled  with 
arguments  and  citations  of  weighty  authorities 
claiming  for  both  Khan  Minyeh  and  Tell  Hum, 
several  miles  further  up  the  shore,  the  honor  or  dis- 
honor of  being  the  site  of  Capernaum.  There  is  a 
strong  Christian  tradition  from  the  sixth  century 
which  fixes  the  place  at  Tell  Hum,  but  tradition  has 
erred  regarding  other  sites.  Maybe  it  has  regarding 
this.  Besides,  Tell  Hum  is  an  impossible  contrac- 
tion from  the  Hebrew  words  Kepher-Nahum.  Still 
more  important,  there  is  no  tell,  or  hill,  at  Tell  Hum, 
and  there  is  one  at  Khan  Minyeh.  And  there  is  no 
flowing  stream  to  furnish  water  at  Tell  Hum  and 
there  is  a  most  copious  spring  and  the  remains  of  an 
old  Roman  aqueduct  at  Khan  Minyeh,  or  right  at 
hand  at  Ain  et  Tineh,  which  name  signifies  "The 


56      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

Fountain  of  Figs."  Towering  above  the  beautiful 
spring  which  issues  from  the  rocks  is  a  high  cliff 
on  the  top  of  which  is  a  small  plateau,  which  was 
probably  the  acropolis  where  stood  the  citadel  and 
palace,  in  the  olden  days,  when  Capernaum  was  the 
chief  seat  of  Roman  power  in  Palestine.  The  hill 
rises  abruptly  from  the  sea  and  forms  the  most  con- 
spicuous feature  of  the  entire  western  shore  line. 
Its  height  is  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  If 
this  be  indeed  the  site,  how  striking  are  the  words 
of  Christ,  which  had  a  literal  as  well  as  a  figurative 
meaning,  "But  thou,  Capernaum  which  are  exalted 
to  heaven,  shall  be  thrust  down  to  hell!"  The 
prophecy  has  been  literally  fulfilled,  for  no  trace 
of  the  ancient  magnificence  of  the  city  remains. 
Crowded  marts  of  trade,  Roman  palaces  and  Jewish 
synagogues,  have  all  disappeared  and  only  a  few  huts 
and  the  old  Roman  aqueduct  remain  to  indicate  that 
a  great  and  populous  city  once  stood  here. 

As  we  also  know,  Capernaum  was  exalted  in  point 
of  religious  privilege  above  all  the  other  cities  of 
Galilee.  It  was  the  home  of  Jesus  and  his  inner  cir- 
cle of  disciples  for  nearly  three  years.  Matthew 
speaks  of  it  as  "His  own  city,"  and  another  has 
called  it  "The  central  pulpit  of  our  Lord's  teach- 
ing," and  still  another  speaks  of  it  as  "The  birth- 
place of  the  Christian  Church."  Two  at  least 
of  the  apostles,  Peter  and  Matthew,  occupied  houses 


SAIL  TO  THE  SITES  ON  GALILEE      57 

in  Capernaum,  which  were  always  open  to  the 
Master,  Mark  1:29;  Mark  2:14-15,  and  at  some 
period  in  his  earlier  ministry  Mary,  the  mother 
of  Jesus,  transferred  her  residence  from  Nazareth 
to  Capernaum,  Matt.  12:46;  John  2:12.  It  was 
here  Jesus  came  after  his  first  miracle  at  Cana 
of  Galilee,  John  2:1-12.  Rejected  at  Nazareth 
he  made  Capernaum  his  abode,  Matt.  4:13-16; 
Luke  4:16-31.  Near  here  was  witnessed  the 
miraculous  draught  of  fishes,  followed  by  the  call  of 
Simon  Peter  and  Andrew,  James  and  John,  Matt. 
4:18-22;  Mark  1:16-20;  Luke  5:1-11.  In  the 
synagogue  he  healed  a  demoniac,  Mark  1 :  23-28 ; 
Luke  4:31-37.  Soon  after  he  healed  here  Peter's 
wife's  mother,  and  many  others  that  were  brought 
to  him,  Matt.  8 :  14-17 ;  Mark  1 :  29-34;  Luke  4 :  38- 
41.  From  here  he  started  on  his  first  circuit  with 
his  disciples  throughout  Galilee,  Matt.  4:23-25; 
Mark  1 :  35-39;  Luke  4:42-44.  He  soon  returned 
to  Capernaum  and  the  people  flocked  to  him.  It 
was  here  he  healed  the  paralytic  let  down  through 
the  roof,  Matt.  9 : 2-8;  Mark  2 : 1-12;  Luke  5  :  17-26. 
Here  Matthew  was  nailed  from  the  receipt  of  custom 
to  follow  him,  Matt.  9:9,  Mark  2:13-14;  Luke 
5 :  27-28.  From  Capernaum  he  retired  to  the 
mountains  and  chose  his  twelve  apostles,  Mark 
3 :  13-19;  Luke  6: 12-19,  and  to  the  multitudes  who 
followed  him  he  preached  the  sermon  on  the  mount, 
8 


58      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

Matt.  5-8;  Luke  6:20-49.  As  ne  returned  to 
Capernaum  he  healed  the  Roman  centurion's  servant, 
Matt.  8:5-13;  Luke  7:1-10.  Christ  was  in  this 
vicinity  when  John  the  Baptist  sent  his  disciples 
on  their  mission  of  inquiry,  Matt.  11:2-19;  Luke 
7: 18-35.  ^  was  undoubtedly  here,  at  a  Pharisee's 
house,  that  Jesus  was  anointed  by  a  woman  who 
had  been  a  sinner,  Luke  7 :  36-50.  Near  here  were 
uttered  the  beautiful  parables  of  the  sower,  Matt. 
13  :  1-23 ;  Mark  4 : 1-25 ;  Luke  8:4-18,  of  the  tares, 
of  the  mustard  seed,  of  the  leaven  hid  in  a  field,  of  a 
merchantman  seeking  goodly  pearls,  of  the  all-in- 
clusive net  cast  into  the  sea,  Matt.  13:24-53;  Mark 
4 :  26-34.  It  was  here  Matthew  made  Christ  a  feast, 
at  his  own  house,  and  at  which  Christ  gave  his  dis- 
course with  respect  to  association  with  publicans, 
Matt.  9:10-17;  Mark  2:15-22;  Luke  5:29-39. 
Here  he  raised  to  life  Jairus'  daughter,  and  healed 
the  woman  with  an  issue  of  blood,  Matt.  9: 18-26; 
Mark  5:22-43;  Luke  8:41-56.  In  this  same  city 
he  healed  two  blind  men  and  cast  out  a  dumb  spirit, 
Matt.  9 :  27-34.  It  was  to  Capernaum  the  apostles 
returned  and  told  Christ  the  results  of  their  mission- 
ary circuit,  and  from  whence  he  took  them  into 
retirement  in  a  desert  place  on  the  other  side  of  the 
sea  of  Galilee;  but  being  followed  by  a  multitude 
of  people,  after  a  day  of  teaching  he  fed  the  five 
thousand,   Matt.    14:13-21;  Mark  6:30-44;  Luke 


SAIL  TO  THE  SITES  ON  GALILEE      59 

9: 10-17;  John  6: 1- 14.  It  was  the  night  following 
this  that  he  came  to  his  disciples  in  the  storm  walk- 
ing upon  the  water,  Matt.  14 :  22-36 ;  Mark  6 :  45-56 ; 
John  6 :  15-21.  The  multitude  who  had  been  mirac- 
ulously fed  the  next  morning  sought  Jesus  and 
found  him  at  Capernaum.  There  he  taught  them  in 
the  synagogue,  giving  his  discourse  upon  the  "bread 
of  life,"  at  which  many  were  offended  and  left  him ; 
an  occasion  which  Peter  embraced  to  make  a  noble 
confession  of  faith,  John  6:22-71.  Pharisees  and 
Scribes  came  here  from  Jerusalem  and  objected  to 
his  disciples'  neglect  of  the  tradition  of  the  elders 
as  to  eating  with  unwashed  hands,  and  Jesus  re- 
plied to  them,  Matt.  15:1-20;  Mark  7:1-23.  He 
went  from  here  to  the  region  of  Tyre  and  Sidon, 
Matt.  15:21-28;  Mark  7:24-30,  and  on  his  return, 
having  visited  the  region  of  Caesarea  Philippi,  he 
miraculously  provided  the  tribute  money,  Matt. 
17 :  24-27 ;  Mark  9 :  33.  It  was  here  at  Capernaum 
the  disciples  contended  among  themselves  who 
should  be  the  greatest,  and  Christ  exhorted  them  to 
humility,  forbearance  and  brotherly  love,  Matt. 
18 : 1-35  ;  Mark  9 :  33-50 ;  Luke  9 :  46-50.  It  was  in 
this  same  city  the  seventy  were  instructed  and  from 
which  they  were  sent  out  into  every  city  whither 
Jesus  would  come,  Luke  10:1-16.  To  this  same 
general  region  Jesus  returned  after  his  resurrection, 
meeting  a  number  of  his  disciples  at  a  mountain 


60      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

where  he  had  appointed  them,  Matt.  28:16-20; 
Mark  16: 15-18,  as  also  on  the  shore  of  the  Sea  of 
Tiberias,  John  21 : 1-24,  and  it  was  upon  a  mountain 
hereabout  that  he  revealed  himself  to  more  than  five 
hundred  brethren  at  once,  1  Cor.  15:6. 

About  two  miles  further  up  the  shore  of  the  lake 
we  came  to  the  furthest  point  we  visited,  namely 
Tell  Hum.  As  we  have  said,  until  recent  times  this 
was  supposed  to  mark  the  site  of  Capernaum;  but 
we  think  that  now  practically  all  who  visit  the  shores 
of  Galilee  as  well  as  leading  scholars  generally,  agree 
that  this  more  likely  marks  the  site  of  Chorazin,  and 
that  Khan  Minyeh  marks  the  location  of  Capernaum. 

The  village  consists  of  a  dozen  miserable  huts. 
The  famous  ruins  are  surrounded  by  a  high  wall 
and  belong  to  the  Franciscan  Monks,  who  own  a 
hospice  here,  where  refreshments  are  sold,  and  a 
small  farm.  In  order  to  buy  the  land  cheaply  the 
monks  covered  up  most  of  the  ruins,  but  by  and  by 
excavations  will  be  made. 

On  the  eastern  shore,  farther  south,  we  could  see 
the  site  of  Gergesa,  "in  the  country  of  the  Gadar- 
enes."  In  the  immediate  vicinity  of  this  town  and 
landing-place  was  the  scene  of  Christ's  healing  of 
the  demoniac  and  of  the  destruction  of  the  herd  of 
swine. 

Still  further  down  the  eastern  shore,  directly 
opposite  Tiberias,  we  could  plainly  see  the  ruins  of 


SAIL  TO  THE  SITES  ON  GALILEE      61 

the  ancient  Gamala,  which  was  a  well-nigh  impreg- 
nable stronghold,  made  famous  for  its  desperate 
resistance  to  the  Romans.  Caves,  columns  and  other 
interesting  remains  may  be  seen. 

But  the  really  fertile  and  densely  populated  por- 
tion of  the  shores  of  Galilee  was  in  the  region  we 
visited,  in  the  Plain  of  Gennesaret  and  its  vicinity. 
Over  the  most  of  its  extent  at  the  present  time,  this 
whole  region  has  reverted  to  its  primitive  condition. 
Back  of  the  silvery  strand  of  the  sea,  made  white 
by  myriads  of  tiny  shells,  an  almost  continuous 
hedge  of  oleanders  and  tropical  thorns  hold  back 
a  confused  mass  of  wild,  luxuriant  vegetation  such 
as  gives  evidence,  not  to  be  disputed,  of  the  wonder- 
ful fertility  of  the  soil  and  of  its  adaptation  to  the 
growth  of  plants  from  widely  different  climes. 
There  are  no  fences  and  no  groups  of  trees  to  ob- 
struct the  vision  between  the  limits  of  the  sea  and 
the  mountains,  and  at  many  points  the  whole  region 
and  its  borderings  may  be  seen  at  a  glance. 

This  region  is  laden  with  the  most  sacred  associa- 
tions. The  story  of  Galilee,  and  especially  of  the 
vicinity  of  the  Plain  of  Gennesaret,  is  the  story  of 
the  larger  part  of  the  public  ministry  of  Jesus. 
"Here  by  the  mountain  side  and  lake  side  and  in  the 
crowded  synagogues  he  preached  the  gospel  of  the 
Kingdom.  Here  he  healed  the  sick,  cleansed  the 
lepers,  opened  the  eyes  of  the  blind,  cast  out  demons, 


62      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

calmed  the  raging  of  the  winds  and  of  the  waves 
by  a  word,  walked  upon  the  sea  to  rescue  his  im- 
periled disciples,  comforted  the  sorrowing,  gave 
rest  to  the  weary  and  heavy  laden,  and  awakened 
from  the  sleep  of  death  the  little  daughter  of  the 
ruler  of  the  synagogue."  Here  most  of  his  mighty 
works  were  done  and  most  of  his  gracious  words 
were  spoken. 

As  one  reads  the  Bible  and  then  looks  at  the  sur- 
roundings, sees  the  frame  of  nature  into  which  as  a 
picture  the  narrative  fits  so  well,  there  comes  into 
the  mind  an  overwhelming  conviction  that  what  he 
is  reading  is  all  true !  Absolutely  true !  We  be- 
lieve that  it  would  be  an  impossible  thing  for  an 
unbeliever  to  sit  on  the  shores  of  Galilee  and  read 
the  scenes  described  in  the  Book,  and  then  look  at 
the  places  with  his  eyes,  and  at  the  end  of  the 
perusal  rise  and  say,  "I  don't  believe  it !"  His  own 
eyes  would  convince  him  of  the  reality. 

After  examining  the  ruins  of  Tell  Hum  as  far  as 
we  might,  and  a  stroll  along  the  pebbled  shore,  filling 
our  pockets  with  the  tiny  shells,  for  souvenirs,  we 
pointed  our  boats  for  the  eight-mile  run  back  to 
Tiberias,  arriving  just  as  the  shadows  of  night 
closed  down  on  us.  It  was  a  glorious  evening ;  and 
as  we  sat  in  the  boat  and  sang  ourselves,  or  listened 
to  the  plaintive  strains  of  the  Syrian  songs  from 
the  native  boatmen,  and  as  we  saw  the  wondrous 


SAIL  TO  THE  SITES  ON  GALILEE      63 

glow  of  the  setting  sun,  and  watched  the  varying 
shades  of  crimson  and  yellow  and  purple  and  a 
peculiarly  ethereal  tint  of  the  light  blue  upon  the 
surface  of  the  sacred  lake  and  upon  the  mountains 
and  valleys  and  shores  of  the  sea,  we  are  sure  there 
was  not  one  heart  in  all  the  company  that  did  not 
turn  in  loving  recollection  to  that  Divine  Friend 
of  us  all  who 

"Once  along  that  rugged   shore, 
He  who  all  our  sorrows  bore, 
Journeyed  oft  with  weary  feet, 
Through  the  storm  or  burning  heat, 
Healing  all  who  came  in  faith, 
Calling  back  the  life  from  death ; 
King  of  kings  from  heaven  was  he, 
Though  so  poor  by  Galilee." 

But  every  member  of  that  party  and  every  one  of 
our  readers,  too,  has  reason  to  be  glad, — with  oh 
what  depth  of  reason  to  be  glad — that 

Still  in  loving  tenderness 
Doth  the  Master  wait  to  bless ; 
Still  His  touch  upon  the  soul 
Bringeth  balm  and   maketh   whole. 
Still   He   comforts   mourning  hearts, 
Life,  and  joy,  and  peace  imparts; 
Still  the  sinner's  Friend  is  He, 
As  of  old  by  Galilee!" 


CHAPTER  VI. 

OUR   FACES  TOWARD  JERUSALEM.- 

rf\  ur  belief  in  the  integrity  of  the  Scriptures  does 
^*r  not  rest  upon  one  argument,  but  upon  many. 
Some  of  these  grounds  are  definite,  positive  and  con- 
vincing by  the  very  force  of  history  and  logic  and 
strong  reasoning.  There  are  other  arguments  that 
are  just  as  strong  though  very  simple  and  incidental 
and  un-wrought-out.  Now,  one  of  the  happy 
results  of  a  visit  to  Palestine  is  that  it  adds  much 
force  in  one's  mind  to  these  natural,  unstudied, 
incidental  evidences — the  land  bearing  such  fre- 
quently-recurring and  remarkable  testimony  to  the 
Book. 

Prominent,  therefore,  among  the  many  evidences 
that  the  historical  writers  of  the  New  Testament 
were  eye-witnesses  of  the  events  which  they  record, 
or  else  obtained  their  information  from  those  who 
were,  is  this — their  unvarying  fidelity  to  circum- 
stances of  time  and  place.  The  same  is  seen  also 
in  their  most  incidental  references  to  manners  and 
customs,  and  even  to  the  natural  phenomena  of 
winds  and  weather  and  the  products  of  the  soil.     A 


OUR  FACES  TOWARD  JERUSALEM      65 

fictitious  narrative,  located  in  a  country  with  which 
the  writer  is  not  familiar,  must  either  avoid  all  local 
allusions  or  else  be  found  frequently  in  conflict  with 
the  peculiarities  of  the  place,  time,  manner  or  cus- 
toms, or,  as  is  more  likely,  with  all  of  these.  It 
was  exactly  this  sort  of  difficulty  that  led  the 
Englishman  who  had  a  friend  coming  to  New  York 
to  ask  to  be  remembered  to  a  relative  of  his  who 
lived  in  Texas,  or  that  prevents  many  from  feeling 
sure  whether  Hainan  is  a  town,  a  district,  or  a 
province  in  China,  or  maybe  an  island!  It  is  hard 
for  one  correctly  to  describe  any  country  he  has 
not  seen,  and  with  which  he  is  not  perfectly  familiar. 

And  when  a  writer  is  not  an  eye-witness  of  that 
which  he  records,  if  the  narrative  requires  him  to 
enter  very  much  into  details,  or  especially  if  he  must 
describe  locations  and  scenery  and  people,  it  becomes 
almost  impossible  for  him  to  avoid  falling  into 
numerous  errors  of  statement. 

That  there  is  a  most  exact  and  wonderful  agree- 
ment between  the  land  and  the  Book,  is  an  often- 
remarked  and  well  known  fact.  The  plains,  the 
mountains,  the  valleys,  rivers,  lakes,  cities,  deserts 
are  in  all  parts  of  the  Scriptures  correctly  named 
and  correctly  located.  But  this  correspondence  goes 
much  farther  and  into  the  most  trivial  and  incidental 
details,  such  as  no  writer  of  a  fictitious  narrative 
could  possibly  make  so  invariably  correct.  For 
9 


66      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

example,  the  various  political  divisions  known  to 
have  existed  in  the  country  are  always  recognized 
in  the  narrative,  as  are  also  the  changes  of  govern- 
ment through  which  the  country  passed  in  its  long 
and  varied  history.  These  exact  incidental  corre- 
spondences become  all  the  more  remarkable,  too, 
when  we  recall  the  fact  that  the  Bible  was  written 
not  by  one  author,  who  could  be  careful  to  bring  his 
material  all  together  and  make  it  consistent,  but  that 
it  was  written  by  over  thirty  different  authors,  living 
in  different  ages,  extending  through  a  period  of 
over  fifteen  hundred  years. 

Yet  more  impressive  is  the  fact  of  the  extreme 
minuteness  to  which  this  agreement  extends.  It 
is  not  limited  to  general  features,  such  as  could  be- 
come known  by  a  study  of  the  geography  or  the 
history  of  a  land,  but  it  reaches  to  such  matters, 
mentioned  only  incidentally,  too,  as  the  relative  levels 
of  different  places  in  Palestine,  or  references  to  the 
sorts  of  flowers  or  shrubs  or  trees  that  grow  in 
certain  regions,  or  to  the  prevailing  winds,  or  the 
peculiarities  of  climate,  and  such  like.  For  instance, 
in  all  the  books,  from  Genesis  on,  the  invariable  ex- 
pressions for  a  journey  between  Egypt  and  Canaan 
are  "down  to  Egypt"  and  "up  out  of  Egypt,"  which 
is  exactly  true.  The  angel  of  the  Lord  who  talked 
to  Abraham  went  "down"  from  Hebron  to  Sodom. 
Jacob  was  commanded  to  "go  up"  from  the  plain 


OUR  FACES  TOWARD  JERUSALEM      67 

near  Shechem  to  Bethel.  Joshua  and  his  army 
"went  up"  against  Ai.  Samson  "went  down"  when 
he  went  among  the  Philistines.  The  men  of 
Kirjath-jearim  were  requested  to  "come  down"  to 
Beth-shemish  and  take  the  ark  "up"  to  their  city. 
The  man  who  fell  among  thieves  "went  down  from 
Jerusalem  to  Jericho."  And  everywhere,  both  in 
the  Old  Testament  and  in  the  New,  people  went 
"up"  to  Jerusalem,  every  road  in  the  land  leading 
to  that  city  running  upward  in  fact,  except  the  short 
one  from  Bethlehem.  In  every  case,  though  the 
reference  was  but  casual  and  incidental,  the  relative 
elevation  of  the  place  was  correctly  recognized. 

By  one  writer,  just  in  reciting  a  fable,  reference 
is  made  to  the  trees  going  forth  to  choose  for  them- 
selves a  king,  the  crown  being  offered  first  to  the 
olive,  next  to  the  fig,  next  to  the  vine ;  which  is  the 
exact  order  of  importance  in  which  these  stand  in 
Palestine,  and  in  no  other  land. 

In  some  countries  rain  is  brought  by  east  winds 
and  heat  by  south  winds,  but  in  recounting  Pharaoh's 
dream  the  blasted  ears  of  corn  are  referred  to  as 
"blasted  by  the  east  wind,"  and  an  east  wind  it  was 
which  withered  Jonah's  gourd  and  was  so  hot  as  to 
cause  Jonah  himself  to  faint.  On  the  contrary  it 
was  the  west  wind  which  brought  rain.  This  is 
what  Christ  referred  to  when  he  said  to  the  Jews : 
"When  ye  see  a  cloud  arise  out  of  the  west,  straight- 


68      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

way  ye  say,  there  cometh  a  shower,  and  so  it  is." 
Now  these  expressions  agree  exactly  with  the  facts. 
This  is  because  of  the  situation  of  Palestine,  and 
of  Egypt  and  Assyria,  so  far  as  the  east  wind  is 
concerned.  There  lies  to  the  east  of  all  these  coun- 
tries a  hot,  barren  desert,  from  which  no  rain  can 
come,  but  that  does  send  a  dry  and  scorching  wind 
which  is  the  terror  of  the  people;  while  Palestine 
has  to  the  west  of  it  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  the 
only  body  of  water  which  can  supply  her  thirsty 
air  with  clouds  heavy  enough  for  rain. 

Then,  too,  there  are  incidental  references  to 
customs,  which,  however  peculiar  they  may  be,  are 
always  spoken  of  in  a  way  exactly  in  consonance 
with  the  facts.  There  are  references  to  eating,  such 
as  "dipping  the  hand  in  the  dish,"  to  the  measuring 
of  grain  into  one's  "bosom,"  to  the  casting  of  grass 
"into  the  oven,"  to  the  "digging"  of  a  wine-press, 
to  the  having  "a  tower  in  a  garden."  These  refer- 
ences are  all  perfectly  natural  to  the  customs  of  the 
country.  When  we  speak  of  a  storm  we  usually 
say  that  it  arose,  as,  "Toward  evening  a  great  storm 
arose."  But  when  a  storm  is  mentioned  as  visiting 
the  lake  of  Galilee,  though  it  seems  quite  accidentally, 
the  words  of  the  account  are,  "There  came  down 
a  storm  of  wind  on  the  lake."  The  fact  is  quite 
exceptional,  but  it  is  a  fact  nevertheless  that  the 
causes  of  storms  on  Galilee  are  the  high  mountains 


OUR  FACES  TOWARD  JERUSALEM      69 

which  surround  the  lake,  and  the  disturbances 
literally  come  down  upon  it. 

Now,  we  have  a  special  reason  for  mentioning 
these  facts  just  here,  namely,  because  they  get  such 
remarkable  exemplification  in  that  portion  of  Pales- 
tine over  which  the  journey  from  Galilee  to  Jerusa- 
lem is  to  take  us.  Here  we  are  to  go  over  hills  and 
valleys,  past  wells  and  springs  and  streams  and 
growing  crops,  past  towns  and  forts  and  sepulchres, 
one  of  the  most  varied  portions  of  all  Palestine,  and 
yet  the  Bible  references  are  always  exact  and  exactly 
in  accord  with  the  facts  as  we  find  them  to-day. 

At  the  close  of  our  last  chapter  we  had  returned 
from  a  sail  on  Lake  Galilee.  We  had  examined  its 
sites  along  the  shores  and  were  back  at  Tiberias 
ready  to  start  in  the  morning  back  down  the  country 
toward  Jerusalem.  The  first  seventeen  miles 
brought  us  back  to  Nazareth,  past  the  Horns  of 
Hattin,past  Cana  of  Galilee — the  home  of  Nathanael 
and  where  Christ  performed  his  first  miracle,  that 
of  turning  water  into  wine — down  to  our  original 
camping  ground  on  the  threshing-floor  at  Nazareth. 

As  we  are  not  now  hurrying  toward  the  Sea  of 
Galilee  we  take  space  to  give  a  somewhat  more  ample 
description  of  what  is  to  be  seen  along  the  way.  About 
five  miles  on  our  way  from  Tiberias  we  came  to 
the  isolated  hill  we  mentioned,  known  by  the  Arabs 
as  Karn  Hattin.    This  is  the  traditional  "Mountain 


70      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

of  the  Beatitudes,"  Matt.  5:1,  where  our  Lord 
delivered  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  the  grandest 
discourse  which  ever  fell  upon  human  ears.  This 
mountain,  or  ridge,  is  projected  toward  the  north- 
east into  a  plain  from  which  it  rises  somewhat 
abruptly  to  an  altitude  of  five  hundred  feet,  or  one 
thousand  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  feet  above  sea 
level.  It  is  a  double-topped  mountain,  crowning, 
as  we  have  indicated,  an  elevated  plateau.  It  is 
from  its  two  horns  or  elevations  that  it  derives  its 
name,  "Horns  of  Hattin."  Between  these  two  sum- 
mits there  is  a  depression  forming  a  natural  amphi- 
theatre about  six  hundred  feet  across,  where  thou- 
sands of  people  could  recline  upon  the  green  grass 
and  sweet  wild  flowers.  The  southern  horn  is  the 
higher,  and  here  Christ  could  well  have  sat  with 
his  disciples  around  him,  while  the  multitude  listened 
from  the  amphitheatre  below.  At  his  feet,  to  the 
northeast,  surrounded  by  its  ribbon  of  plain  and 
circle  of  hills,  lay  the  beautiful  Sea  of  Galilee,  fully 
two  thousand  feet  below  him.  To  the  south,  Tabor 
rose  in  full  view,  a  rounded  elevation  standing  apart 
from  the  hills.  Beyond,  to  the  west,  were  the  moun- 
tains of  Nazareth.  On  the  north  were  the  hills  of 
Adash,  beyond  which  towered  the  snowy  Hermon 
in  crystal  grandeur.  At  his  feet  lay  the  lovely  plains 
and  fertile  valleys  of  Galilee,  green  with  verdure 
and  beautiful  with  wild  flowers.    Crowning  the  sum- 


RESTING    NEAR   THE    HORNS    OF    HATTIN. 


WOMEN  AND  CHILDREN  AROUND  THE  SPRING  AT  CANA. 


OUR  FACES  TOWARD  JERUSALEM      71 

mit  of  a  not  distant  hill  to  the  north  was  the  gray, 
picturesque  village  of  Safed,  "a  city  set  on  a  hill  that 
could  not  be  hid,"  which  evidently  furnished  to  our 
Saviour  his  illustration.  Around  the  base  of  the 
mountain  upon  which  he  sat,  and  stretching  away 
as  far  as  the  eye  could  see  them  we  doubt  not,  there 
were  thousands  of  the  lilies  of  the  field  in  full  bloom, 
as  we  saw  them  during  our  visit,  and  toward  which 
he  stretched  out  his  hand  and  said,  "Consider  the 
lilies  of  the  field,  how  they  grow;  they  toil  not, 
neither  do  they  spin;  and  yet  I  say  unto  you,  that 
even  Solomon  in  all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like 
one  of  these."  With  deep  emotion  we  stood  in  this 
sacred  spot  and  pictured  to  ourselves  the  scene  as 
he  "who  spake  as  never  man  spake"  delivered  that 
wonderful  sermon. 

It  was  on  the  plain  at  the  base  of  this  hill  that 
Saladin  defeated  the  Franks  on  the  3d  and  4th  of 
July,  1 187,  thereby  giving  the  death-blow  to  the 
power  of  the  Latin  or  Christian  kingdom  in  Pales- 
tine. It  was  a  rocky  and  waterless  spot  where  Guy 
de  Lusignan,  Christian  king  of  Jerusalem,  camped 
on  the  night  of  July  3d.  Already  his  men  were 
practically  surrounded,  and  when  the  next  day  they 
joined  their  final  battle  they  were  disheartened  and 
disorganized,  and  all  but  perishing  with  the  heat  and 
their  great  thirst.  By  evening  their  army  was  routed, 
their  king  a  prisoner,  and  the  Holy  Cross  the  spoil 
of  the  infidel. 


72      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

At  a  distance  of  about  seven  miles  from  the  Horns 
of  Hattin  we  re-entered  Kefr  Kenna,  or  the  "vil- 
lage of  Kenna,"  through  which  we  had  already 
passed  on  our  way  from  Nazareth  to  Tiberias.  But 
we  took  time  now  for  a  more  careful  survey  of 
its  surroundings  and  to  visit  the  places  of  interest 
pointed  out  by  our  conductors. 

As  is  well  known,  Kefr  Kenna  is  identified  by  the 
majority  of  scholars  with  Cana  of  Galilee,  where 
the  Saviour's  first  miracle  was  wrought,  of  turning 
water  into  wine,  relieving  the  embarrassment  of  his 
host,  at  the  wedding  feast,  John  2:1-11.  It  is 
situated  on  the  westward  slope  of  a  hill,  with  a 
copious  and  unfailing  spring  adjoining  it  on  the 
southwest.  This  is  the  one  fountain  from  which 
from  time  immemorial  the  people  have  taken  water, 
and  it  was  undoubtedly  from  it  the  water  was 
drawn  which  Christ  turned  into  wine.  At  the  spring 
a  fine  old  sarcophagus  serves  as  a  watering  trough, 
and  the  women  and  children  may  be  seen  coming  and 
going  with  their  water  pots  at  all  hours  of  the  day. 
The  modern  village  has  a  population  of  about  six 
hundred,  half  being  Moslems,  most  of  the  remainder 
being  Greek  Christians,  with  few  Latins  and  a  still 
smaller  number  of  Protestants.  The  village  itself 
is  uninviting,  with  filthy  narrow  streets,  and  refuse 
heaps  at  every  corner.  The  traditional  place  of 
Christ's  miracle  is  kept  in  memory  by  a  small,  plain 


OUR  FACES  TOWARD  JERUSALEM      j$ 

Greek  church,  in  which  the  priest  showed  us  one 
of  the  water-pots  said  to  have  been  used  in  the 
miracle.  There  are  a  few  poor  but  interesting  paint- 
ings in  the  church,  one  being  the  marriage  scene. 
The  priest  was  very  obliging  and  courteous  and 
showed  us  these  and  other  relics  of  interest,  includ- 
ing a  fine  old  copy  of  the  Gospels,  which  the  people 
kiss  but,  we  are  sorry  to  say,  do  not  read. 

Not  far  from  the  Greek  church  is  another,  held 
by  the  Latins,  in  charge  of  Franciscan  monks.  It 
occupies  the  site  of  a  very  ancient  building,  thought 
to  have  been  the  former  synagogue  of  the  place. 
The  monks  contend  that  the  water-pots  of  Christ's 
miracle  were  not  filled  from  the  common  spring,  but 
from  the  cistern  of  the  house  next  to  the  synagogue. 
This  cistern  they  think  they  have  found,  and  in  a 
partly  excavated  form  they  showed  it  to  us.  A 
building,  to  preserve  it,  was  in  process  of  being 
erected  over  it. 

Another  small  church  shown  us  is  said  to  be  on 
the  site  of  the  house  of  the  apostle  Nathanael  (Bar- 
tholomew), John  21:2. 

Besides  being  the  place  of  the  first  miracle,  John 
2:  11,  and  the  home  of  Nathanael,  John  21  :  2,  a 
third  Biblical  event  is  located  at  Cana.  It  is  the 
place  where  Jesus  received  the  nobleman  from  Caper- 
naum whose  son  was  healed  in  accordance  with  his 
word,  John  4:  46-54. 
10 


74      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

There  are  some  fine  olive  orchards  at  Cana,  the 
gardens  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  are  luxuriant,  and  the 
pomegranates  produced  here  are  said  to  be  the  best 
in  Palestine. 

A  little  to  the  north  of  Cana  we  caught  a  glimpse 
of  the  little  village  known  as  El  Meshed.  It  is 
on  the  site  of  the  ancient  Gath-hepher,  the  home 
of  the  prophet  Jonah,  2  Kings  14 :  25,  who,  it  will  be 
remembered,  took  ship  at  Joppa  for  Tarshish  when 
commanded  to  go  to  Ninevah,  the  ancient  capital  of 
Assyria,  Jonah  1:1-17.  Jonah  fled,  it  is  true,  but  he 
could  not  escape  "from  the  presence  of  the  Lord." 
We  were  told  that  Jonah's  tomb  could  be  visited 
at  Gath-hepher,  but  as  we  were  hastening  toward 
Nazareth  we  did  not  turn  aside  to  see. 

A  little  to  the  southeast  of  Cana  lies  Mt.  Tabor, 
which  during  our  morning  ride  has  stood  off  to  our 
left,  in  a  very  imposing  manner.  It  was  a  magnifi- 
cent sight.  Its  truncated  cone  towered  grandly  over 
the  great  plain  of  Esdraelon,  upon  the  northeastern 
confines  of  which  it  stands,  one  thousand  three  hun- 
dred feet  high  from  its  base  and  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  sixty-five  above  sea  level.  This  is  one  of 
the  most  interesting  mountains  in  Palestine,  and 
for  a  long  time,  on  the  authority  of  Origen  and  St. 
Jerome,  was  thought  to  be  the  scene  of  the  trans- 
figuration, Matt.  17: 1-9.  But  this  belief  has  given 
way  before  closer  study  of  the  Gospel  narrative, 


OUR  FACES  TOWARD  JERUSALEM      75 

which  makes  it  probable  that  the  transfiguration  took 
place  in  the  neighborhood  of  Csesarea  Philippi  and 
on  some  part  of  Mt.  Hermon.  The  base  and  sides 
of  the  mountain  are  studded  with  oaks,  pistacias  and 
other  trees  and  bushes.  It  presents  to  the  eye  as 
seen  from  the  distance,  a  beautiful  appearance,  on 
account  of  being  so  remarkably  symmetrical  in  its 
proportions.  Its  majesty,  grace  and  park-like  beauty 
are  often  referred  to  in  the  Scriptures.  It  was  a 
rabbinical  saying,  showing  the  Jewish  estimate  of 
the  attractions  of  the  locality,  that  the  temple  ought 
to  have  been  built  there.  Its  beauty  and  repre- 
sentative character  are  shown  by  such  Bible  expres- 
sions as  these;  "As  Tabor  is  among  the  mountains, 
and  as  Carmel  by  the  sea,"  etc.,  Jer.  46:18,  and 
"The  north  and  the  south  Thou  hast  created  them; 
Tabor  and  Hermon  shall  rejoice  in  Thy  name,"  Ps. 
89:12.  Tabor  formed  the  boundary  line  between 
Issachar  and  Zebulon.  Christ  and  his  disciples  must 
have  passed  often  at  the  foot  of  this  mountain  in 
the  course  of  their  frequent  journeyings  in  the  dif- 
ferent parts  of  Galilee.  At  that  time  the  top  of  the 
hill  was  crowned  with  a  city  of  considerable  size. 
It  was  at  this  mountain  Barak,  at  the  command  of 
Deborah,  assembled  his  forces,  and,  at  the  opportune 
moment,  descended  thence,  with  ten  thousand  men 
into  the  plain,  and  conquered  Sisera  on  the  banks 
of  the  Kishon,  Judges  4:5-15.    It  was  on  Tabor  also 


76      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

that  the  brothers  of  Gideon  were  slain  by  Zeba  and 
Zalmunna,  Judges  8:18,  19.  This  same  mountain 
is  intended  when  it  is  said  of  Issachar  and  Zebulon, 
in  Deut.  33 :  19,  that  "they  shall  call  the  people  unto 
the  mountain;  there  they  shall  offer  sacrifices  of 
righteousness."  Two  monasteries  now  occupy  the 
top  of  the  hill,  one  of  the  Greek  Church  and  one  of 
the  Latin.  Within  the  Latin  monastery,  we  are  told, 
there  are  still  to  be  seen  the  ruins  of  a  Crusaders' 
church  of  the  twelfth  century,  consisting  of  nave 
and  aisles  and  three  chapels  in  memory  of  the  three 
tabernacles  which  Peter  wished  to  build.  The 
Greek  monastery  and  chapel  also  stand  on  the  site 
of  a  very  ancient  church,  said  to  be  of  the  fourth 
or  fifth  century.  The  Greeks  and  Latins  differ  as  to 
the  actual  spot  where  the  transfiguration  took  place, 
each  claiming  it  to  be  within  their  own  church. 

It  is  less  than  five  miles  from  Cana  to  Nazareth, 
and,  as  we  have  said,  we  were  ere  long  back  at  our 
original  camping-place  there. 

Our  way  from  here  on  was  straight  south  toward 
Jerusalem,  and  over  the  very  road  Christ  and  his 
disciples  must  often  have  traveled  on  their  journeys 
between  the  Holy  City  and  Galilee.  The  road 
almost  all  the  way  was  nothing  but  a  narrow  foot- 
path and  often  so  rough  and  rocky  that  it  was 
almost  impossible  to  progress  at  all.  Our  caravan 
struggled  along  single  file  and  often  drawn  out 


OUR  FACES  TOWARD  JERUSALEM      77 

to  a  length  of  one,  two  and  sometimes  three  miles. 
If  the  road  were  no  better  in  the  time  of  Christ's 
boyhood  and  they  traveled  in  the  same  way  this 
would  easily  account  for  how  his  parents  could 
have  gotten  so  far  as  they  were  out  from  Jerusa- 
lem before  they  missed  him.  They  supposed  he  was 
back  among  some  of  their  friends  in  the  caravan. 

Riding  down  from  Nazareth  into  the  Valley  of 
Jezreel  we  had  in  plain  sight  before  us  Endor  and 
Nain,  two  familiar  places  of  Biblical  note.  They 
lie  near  the  base  on  the  north  side  of  the  Hill  Moreh, 
or,  as  it  is  more  familiarly  known,  "Little  Hermon." 
Endor,  as  the  reader  will  recall,  is  the  place  to  which 
Saul  on  that  memorable  night  repaired,  under  the 
cover  of  darkness,  to  consult  the  witch,  and  from 
which  he  returned  to  Mount  Gilboa  a  doomed  man. 
The  city  of  Nain  is  even  more  familiar,  being  the 
place  where  Christ  halted  the  funeral  procession 
which  was  bearing  the  corpse  of  the  only  son  of  a 
widowed  mother,  and,  commanding  the  dead  to 
arise,  restored  him  to  the  widow's  arms.  It  is  beauti- 
fully situated,  commanding  a  magnificent  land- 
scape view,  hence,  perhaps,  its  name,  which  means 
"beauty."  Just  east  of  the  village  are  some  ancient 
tombs  to  one  of  which,  no  doubt,  the  widow's  son 
was  being  removed  when  the  wonderful  miracle 
was  performed.  What  must  have  been  the  thought 
of  that  mother  with  her  grief  so  suddenly  and  unex- 
pectedly turned  to  joy! 


78      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

Passing  through  the  waving  wheat-fields  in  the 
valley  of  Jezreel — for  though  it  was  but  the  ninth 
of  March  the  weather  was  like  July  and  the  wheat 
was  beginning  to  head  out  and  ripen — and  going 
around  Little  Hermon  at  its  western  end  we  soon 
came  in  sight  of  Shunem,  a  place  rendered  dear  to 
every  lover  of  the  Bible  by  the  beautiful,  sweet  story 
of  the  rich  Shunammite  woman  who  prepared  a 
prophet's  chamber  in  her  house,  and  where  Elisha 
so  often  found  a  home  and  shelter  from  the  noon- 
tide sun  as  he  passed  that  way,  a  kindness  which  he 
fully  appreciated  and  which  was  akin  to  that  shown 
by  the  sisters  of  Bethany  to  the  Saviour.  Below 
the  village  were  the  barley  fields  where  the  reapers 
were  at  work,  and  to  which  the  child,  the  pride  and 
joy  of  his  parents,  went  out  when  his  father  was 
with  the  reapers.  He  had  been  there  but  a  short 
time  when  he  came  to  his  father  and  said,  "My  head ! 
my  head!"  being  suddenly  sun-struck.  Since  rid- 
ing over  the  plain  of  Jezreel  almost  overcome  with 
the  heat  and  glare  of  the  sun  out  of  a  clear  sky, 
these  words  of  the  child  have  come  to  us  with  a 
new  force  and  meaning.  The  father  directed  that 
the  child  be  carried  "to  his  mother."  The  account 
continues,  "And  he  sat  on  her  knees  till  noon  and 
then  died.  And  she  went  up  and  laid  him  on  the  bed 
of  the  man  of  God,  and  shut  the  door  upon  him  and 
went   out."      Then   follows   the   statement   of   her 


OUR  FACES  TOWARD  JERUSALEM      79 

hastening  to  Mount  Carmel,  which,  though  in  full 
view,  lies  twelve  miles  away.  She  poured  out  her 
great  sorrow  at  the  feet  of  Elisha,  who,  to  her 
unspeakable  joy  restored  the  child  to  life  again.  We 
could  not  help  thinking  as  we  were  passing  of  how 
beautifully  God  rewards  those  who  show  kindness  to 
his  servants. 

The  region  about  Shunem  belonged  in  the  por- 
tion of  the  tribe  of  Issachar,  and  fortunate  indeed 
must  its  people  have  been  to  possess  such  fine  and 
fertile  land  as  is  seen  in  this  vicinity. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

JEZREEL,  JENIN  AND  DOTHAN. 

Continuing  our  journey  through  the  wheat-fields 
of  the  valley  of  Jezreel  and  by  and  by  up  an  eleva- 
tion of  about  four  hundred  feet,  we  came  to  the  site 
of  the  ancient  city  of  Jezreel;  which  gave  its  name  to 
this  entire  plain.  The  Arabs  call  the  modern  village 
Zerin.  It  is  a  collection  of  miserable  hovels  of  mud 
and  stone,  but  into  the  walls  of  these  and  scattered 
about  on  the  ground  are  many  pieces  of  ancient 
masonry.  The  most  conspicuous  object  is  the  ruin 
of  an  old  church,  a  part  of  whose  walls  stand  twenty 
or  thirty  feet  high.  The  village  is  most  beautifully 
situated,  having  a  view  that  takes  in  the  whole 
of  the  plain  of  Esdraelon,  with  the  mountain-rim 
that  bounds  two  sides  of  its  triangle. 

Jezreel,  as  the  reader  will  recall,  was  the  royal 
residence  of  Ahab  and  Jezebel,  and  has  been  the 
scene  of  many  thrilling  events  in  the  history  of  Israel. 
Its  associations  call  up  the  names  in  turn  of  Gideon 
and  Saul,  Elijah  and  Naboth,  Ahab  and  Jezebel, 
Joram  and  Ahaziah,  and  of  Jehu  the  swift  driver 
and  the  equally  swift  avenger  of  the  crimes  com- 


THE   PLAIN   OF   ESDRAELON    FROM    JENIN. 


THE    TOWER    OF    JEZREEL. 


JEZREEL,  JEN  IN  AND  DOTH  AN  81 

mitted  by  the  bloody  house  of  Ahab.  Rock-cut  wine 
presses  on  the  slope  near  the  village  suggest  the  vine- 
yard of  Naboth,  which  was  hard  by  the  palace  of 
Ahab.  One  reads  here  with  intensest  interest  the 
account  of  Ahab's  covetousness.  Naboth  loyally 
clung  to  his  inheritance.  "The  Lord  forbid  it  me, 
that  I  should  give  the  inheritance  of  my  fathers 
unto  thee,"  were  his  words  to  the  king.  But  Jezebel, 
the  heathen  princess  from  Tyre,  the  woman  who, 
more  than  any  one  else,  led  Israel  into  idolatry — the 
unscrupulous  Jezebel — had  no  conscience  about  a 
matter  of  such  little  importance  to  her  as  a  man's 
ancestral  possessions,  and,  procuring  the  necessary 
two  witnesses,  she  not  only  took  the  land,  but  put 
Naboth  to  death,  and  gave  his  land  to  the  king. 
Then  came  the  fearful  judgments  of  the  Lord  upon 
them  both.  The  dogs  licked  the  blood  of  the  one, 
from  his  chariot  in  Samaria,  and  ate  the  flesh  of  the 
other  by  the  wall  of  Jezreel,  whither  she  had  been 
thrown  by  her  own  servants  from  a  high  window  in 
her  palace.  Truly  God  has  written  in  letters  of 
blood  across  the  field  of  Naboth,  "Beware  of  covet- 
ousness." 

The  hill  on  which  stood  the  summer  home  of 
Ahab  is  now  barren  and  desolate.  Here  and  there 
broken  columns  and  finely  executed  capitals  lie  scat- 
tered over  the  site  where  once  stood  magnificent  pal- 
aces. Ahab  certainly  showed  good  taste  and  judg- 
11 


82      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

ment  in  selecting  this  place  as  the  site  of  his  summer 
palace,  avoiding  both  the  heat  and  the  contracted 
view  of  his  capital  at  Samaria.  And  Saul  with  his 
army  when  posted  here  before  his  last  and  fatal 
battle  certainly  had  an  admirable  defensive  position 
against  the  Philistine  host  drawn  up  at  Shunem. 
For  immediately  in  front  of  Jezreel  to  the  north 
there  is  an  almost  perpendicular  descent  of  four  hun- 
dred feet  into  the  valley  of  Jezreel  and  up  which 
the  Philistine  army  would  have  to  clamber  in  making 
any  attack.  The  western  side  of  the  hill  stretches 
off  in  a  direction  nearly  due  south  to  the  vicinity  of 
Jenin,  while  the  northern  side  runs  in  almost  a 
straight  line  south  by  southeast  until  it  suddenly 
breaks  down  into  the  Jordan  valley,  about  twelve 
miles  distant.  This  northern,  or  more  strictly  speak- 
ing, northeastern  side  is  almost  perpendicular,  while 
the  western  side  has  a  gradual  slope.  It  is  doubtless 
over  this  western  slope  of  the  mountain  Saul  and 
his  men  were  retreating  when  he  and  his  sons  were 
slain. 

Almost  due  west,  and  sixteen  miles  distant,  we 
could  distinctly  see  the  place  of  Elijah's  sacrifice  on 
Mount  Carmel.  It  is  plain  that  when  Ahab  was 
returning  to  Jezreel  from  the  stirring  scenes  of  the 
slaughter  of  the  false  prophets,  followed  by  the 
black  clouds  of  the  coming  rain,  and  preceded  by 
the  rugged  form  of  Elijah,  his  chariot  could  be  seen 


JEZREEL,  J  EN  IN  AND  DOT  HAN  83 

from  the  walls  of  Jezreel  every  foot  of  the  way. 
This,  of  course,  was  before  the  death  of  Jezebel,  and 
it  was  from  these  same  walls,  and  from  the  face  of 
Jezebel  that  a  little  later  Elijah  fled  in  a  fit  of  dis- 
couragement far  into  the  southern  wilderness  of 
Judea,  and  throwing  himself  in  despair  under  a 
juniper  tree  wished  that  he  might  die. 

Leaving  Jezreel  we  pursued  our  journey  south- 
ward to  Jenin,  an  important  town  of  about  fifteen 
hundred  inhabitants.  It  is  the  seat  of  a  subordinate 
Turkish  governorship  and  of  a  small  garrison  of 
soldiers.  The  village  is  supposed  to  be  the  ancient 
En  Gannim,  of  Old  Testament  history,  a  city  of 
Issachar,  which  was  given  to  the  Levites.  It  is 
beautifully  situated,  lying  as  it  does,  at  the  entrance 
of  the  great  valley  of  Esdraelon,  the  battle-field  of 
Palestine.  On  the  hillside  back  of  the  town  is  a 
copious  fountain  from  which  the  place  derives  its 
name — En  Gannim  meaning  "garden-spring,"  or 
"fountain  of  gardens."  A  modern  aqueduct  leads 
the  water  from  the  fountain  into  the  town  where 
it  empties  clear  and  sparkling  into  an  artificial  basin. 
Here  the  women  of  the  town  are  constantly  coming 
and  going,  lingering  to  chat  and  gossip,  and  the 
children  play  in  the  stream  that  is  led  away  to  irri- 
gate the  gardens  below,  for  the  town  is  surrounded 
on  the  south  and  west  by  luxuriant  gardens  of  vege- 
tables and  fruits,  and  by  occasional  clusters  of  palm 
trees. 


84      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

The  place  is  a  favorite  camping  place  for  tourists, 
the  principal  attractions  being  the  abundance  of 
shade,  a  good  location  for  tents  on  high  ground,  and 
the  excellent  fountain  we  have  mentioned.  It  was 
here  our  party  camped  over  Sunday.  We  were 
honored  by  a  call  from  the  governor,  through  his 
son  and  an  interpreter,  and  returned  the  call  through 
a  committee  of  five  or  six  of  our  party.  The  governor 
informed  us  that  we  composed  the  largest  party  that 
had  ever  camped  at  one  time  at  the  place,  and  set 
before  us  Turkish  cigarettes  and  coffee.  Our  spokes- 
man, Rev.  Dr.  S.  Edward  Young,  of  Pittsburgh, 
who  could  speak  a  little  French,  in  endeavoring  to 
be  somewhat  social  with  the  governor  told  him  that 
there  was  very  deep  snow  on  the  ground  when  he 
left  home.  He  endeavored  to  tell  him  just  how 
deep  it  was,  meaning  to  convey  in  French  that  it 
was  fifteen  inches.  But  noting  the  extreme  aston- 
ishment on  the  part  of  the  governor  he  reviewed  his 
faulty  French  to  find  that  instead  of  saying  it  was  fif- 
teen inches  deep  he  had  said  that  is  was  fifteen  hun- 
dred feet!  The  reader  can  imagine  the  laugh  that 
the  governor,  his  staff  and  we  all  had  at  our  obliging 
interpreter's  expense. 

In  the  afternoon  we  had  an  open  air  service  on  a 
little  mound  at  one  side  of  our  camp.  Though  a 
Mohammedan,  the  governor  was  represented  at  it  by 
his  son  and  the  members  of  his  staff,  and  practically 


JEZREEL,  JENIN  AND  DOTH  AN  85 

the  whole  population  of  the  village,  men,  women 
and  children,  gathered  around.  There  were  a  few 
Turkish  soldiers  there  who  made  some  official  but  en- 
tirely unnecessary  show  of  keeping  order.  The  people 
seemed  intensely  interested  and  were  very  quiet, 
especially  when  we  sung  our  hymns.  Knowing  that 
they  could  not  understand  our  language  we  spoke 
but  briefly,  but  sang  a  great  deal.  They  seemed  like 
people  with  hungry  eyes  and  hungry  ears  and  hungry 
hearts,  and  we  are  sure  the  gospel  of  Christ  would 
be  welcome  among  them  if  some  one  could  carry  it 
to  them  in  the  right  way  and  in  their  own  language. 
In  the  morning  ere  the  sun  was  up  we  were  quite 
out  on  the  way  toward  Dothan  and  Samaria  and 
Shechem,  which  latter  place  was  to  be  our  camping 
ground  the  next  night.  After  a  short  ride  we  came 
down  into  the  famous  plain  of  Dothan.  It  is  a 
lovely  crescent-shaped  basin  almost  encircled  by 
hills,  and  is  still  famous  as  a  rich  pasture  ground 
to  which  the  shepherds  and  herdsmen  resort  when 
the  verdure  of  the  hills  and  more  elevated  plains 
becomes  dry  and  parched  with  the  drought  of  sum- 
mer. Hither  it  was  that  the  sons  of  Jacob  wandered 
with  their  herds,  and  hither,  too,  Joseph,  in  obedi- 
ence to  his  father's  wishes,  followed  in  search  of  his 
brethren,  over  the  mountains,  and  through  the  glens 
from  the  place  of  the  original  paternal  roof  in  She- 
chem, seventeen  miles  away;  though  he  had  come, 


86      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

as  we  know,  from  far  south  of  Hebron.  Through 
this  plain  passes  the  ancient  caravan  route  which  for 
thousands  of  years  has  been  worn  by  the  feet  of 
the  merchantmen  of  the  East  carrying  their  goods 
toward  the  south.  It  was  along  this  road  the 
Midianite  merchantmen  were  passing  who  offered 
Joseph's  brethren  the  opportunity  of  disposing  of  him 
finally,  without  imbuing  their  hands  in  his  blood. 
Well  to  the  south  on  the  west  side  of  the  plain  we 
were  shown  the  pit  where  tradition  says  the  young 
lad  was  placed  and  was  about  to  be  left  to  perish. 
But  since  this  pit  is  more  like  a  well  of  good  water, 
we  think  it  much  more  likely  to  be  the  spring  about 
which  Joseph's  brethren  were  encamped,  and  that  he 
was  placed  in  one  of  the  dry  cisterns  that  are  found 
in  the  vicinity.  A  large  mound  of  ruins  near  by  is 
known  as  Tell  Dothan,  or  Hill  Dothan,  thus  retain- 
ing the  very  name  by  which  the  place  was  known  in 
the  days  of  the  patriarchs. 

This  place  was  also  connected  with  the  history  of 
the  prophet  Elisha.  He  was  dwelling  here  at  the 
time  the  generals  of  Ben-hadad,  king  of  Syria, 
assured  him  that  "Elisha,  the  prophet  that  is  in 
Israel,  telleth  the  king  of  Israel  the  words  that  thou 
speakest  in  thy  bed-chamber."  Ben-hadad  there- 
fore decided  to  capture  the  prophet  and  "sent  thither 
horses,  and  chariots,  and  a  great  host."  These  came 
by  night  and  encompassed  the  city.    What  a  sight  it 


JEZREEL,  J  EN  IN  AND  DOTH  AN  87 

must  have  been  on  the  following  morning  to  see 
all  this  plain  filled  with  the  burnished  shields  and 
gleaming  spears  of  the  Syrian  hosts !  No  wonder 
the  young  man  who  attended  Elisha,  probably  from 
the  school  of  the  prophets,  cried  out  for  very  fear, 
"Alas,  my  master!  how  shall  we  do?"  But  Elisha 
was  calm.  Through  spiritual  eyes  he  saw  other  than 
Syrian  hosts,  and  replied  to  the  alarmed  young  man : 
"Fear  not,  for  they  that  are  with  us  are  more  than 
they  that  be  with  them."  Then  he  prayed  that  the 
eyes  of  the  young  man  might  be  opened,  "And  the 
Lord  opened  the  eyes  of  the  young  man,  and  he  saw, 
and  behold,  the  mountain  was  full  of  horses  and 
chariots  of  fire  round  about  Elisha."  What  an 
imposing  spectacle  it  must  have  been !  And  what  a 
lesson  it  teaches  of  God's  love  and  care  surrounding 
us  like  a  protecting  host  in  every  time  of  terror  or 
trial !  We  can  assure  our  readers  that  these  thrilling 
old  stories  came  back  to  us  laden  with  new  force  and 
meaning  as  we  passed  along  amid  the  very  scenes  in 
which  they  were  laid. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

SANUR  AND  SAMARIA. 

fROM  Dothan  to  Samaria  is  about  eight  miles. 
We  passed  numerous  villages  along  the  way, 
about  which  it  would  be  interesting  to  write,  the 
most  important  place  historically  being  the  former 
fortress  of  Sanur.  The  place  was  besieged  in  1830 
and  captured  with  much  difficulty  by  Abdullah, 
pasha  of  Acre,  the  occasion  being  that  the  shekh 
of  Sanur  had  declared  himself  independent.  Later 
Ibrahim  Pasha,  of  Egypt,  destroyed  the  fortress 
entirely. 

A  few  miles  more  and  a  hard  climb  up  the  side 
of  the  hill  brought  us  to  the  ancient  city  of  Samaria, 
so  long  the  capital  of  the  kings  of  Israel,  or  the 
"Northern  Kingdom."  The  city  was  first  built  by 
Omri,  king  of  Israel,  the  father  of  Ahab,  who  pur- 
chased the  site  from  Shemer.  He  made  it  the 
royal  city  and  gave  it  the  name  of  Shomeron,  or 
Samaria,  "after  the  name  of  Shemer,  the  owner 
of  the  hill."  The  selection  of  this  site  for  his  capital 
was  a  demonstration  of  the  military  skill  of  Omri, 
for  the   situation   was   almost   impregnable.     The 


SANUR  AND  SAMARIA  89 

city  was  built  on  an  isolated  hill  about  five  hundred 
feet  high,  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  fifty-four 
feet  above  the  sea  level,  completely  surrounded  by 
an  almost  circular  valley,  and  this  again  by  a  circle 
of  mountains  nearly  all  higher  than  the  city  itself. 
As  some  one  has  said:  "Its  site  might  be  com- 
pared to  that  of  a  conical  swell  in  the  centre  of  a 
deep  saucer."  For  twenty-five  centuries  and  more 
the  place  has  had  a  checkered  and  memorable  career, 
and  though  often  besieged  during  the  period  of 
Bible  history  it  was  never  taken  but  once,  and  that 
after  an  awful  siege  of  three  years  duration.  Here 
were  witnessed  many  of  the  most  stirring  events 
in  the  lives  of  Elijah  and  Elisha.  Here  it  was  that 
Elisha  the  Tishbite,  from  the  mountains  of  Gilead, 
not  more  than  forty  miles  away,  came  to  the  court  of 
Ahab,  in  the  midst  of  his  wicked,  idolatrous  worship, 
and  standing  in  the  midst  of  the  splendors  of  his 
ivory  palace  made  this  startling  announcement  to 
the  king :  "As  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  liveth,  before 
whom  I  stand,  there  shall  not  be  dew  nor  rain  these 
years,  but  according  to  my  word;"  and  James  tells 
us  that  "it  rained  not  upon  the  earth  by  the  space 
of  three  years  and  six  months."  Here,  too,  it  was 
that  Obadiah  remained  faithful  to  God  amid  the 
splendors  of  this  corrupt  court,  even  caring  for  the 
prophets  of  God  through  the  sore  distress  of  the 
three  years'  famine,  by  hiding  them  in  caves  and 
12 


9o      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

feeding  them  on  bread  and  water.  Here  in  the 
midst  of  that  same  drought  Ahab  divided  the  coun- 
try between  himself  and  Obadiah,  to  seek,  if  possible, 
amidst  its  former  fountains  and  brooks,  a  little 
"grass  to  save  the  horses  and  mules  alive" — appar- 
ently it  mattering  little  to  the  wretched,  hard- 
hearted king  if  his  people  died  by  thousands,  if  only 
he  could  find  food  and  water  to  maintain  the  life  of 
his  horses !  Here  also  it  was,  probably  a  little  to  the 
west  among  the  hills,  that  Elijah  confronted  Ahab 
in  his  vain  search  for  grass  and  challenged  him  to 
assemble  all  Israel  on  Mount  Carmel  to  a  demonstra- 
tion as  to  whether  it  was  Elijah  that  was  troubling 
Israel,  or  whether  it  was  not  the  king  himself, 
by  forsaking  the  commandments  of  the  Lord  and 
following  after  Baalim.  Here  Jezebel,  the  wicked 
queen,  caused  the  prophets  of  the  Lord  to  be 
slain,  while  she  maintained  at  her  own  table  and 
at  her  own  expense  eight  hundred  and  fifty  false 
prophets,  ministers  of  Baal  and  of  the  graves. 
Here  one  reads  with  peculiar  interest  the  striking 
incidents  of  the  siege  of  Samaria  by  the  Syrians 
under  Ben-hadad,  king  of  Damascus.  It  was  dur- 
ing this  siege  that  the  two  starving  women 
made  a  compact  to  eat  their  children,  and  that  the 
four  leprous  men  determined,  rather  than  die  of 
starvation,  to  go  to  the  camp  of  Syrians,  and  when 
they  came  found  all  as  silent  as  the  grave,  for  the 


SANUR  AND  SAMARIA  91 

Syrians  had  fled  at  some  imaginary  danger,  every 
man  for  his  life. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  this  distressing  famine 
from  the  siege  that  Elisha  declared  that  within 
twenty-four  hours  a  measure  of  fine  flour  would 
be  sold  for  a  shekel,  and  one  of  the  court  officers 
exclaimed,  "If  the  Lord  would  make  windows  in 
heaven,  might  this  thing  be?"  That  scoffer  lived  to 
see  the  fulfillment  of  Elisha's  words  before  his  eyes, 
but  he  was  trodden  down  by  the  people  in  the  gate 
in  their  rush  for  the  flour  and  barley.  It  was  also 
to  this  city  that  Naaman,  the  great  Syrian  general, 
but  a  leper,  came  to  be  healed,  and  from  which 
Gehazi  ran  after  the  healed  man  to  accept  the  gifts 
Elisha  had  refused.  It  was  upon  his  return  with 
the  coveted  treasures  that  Gehazi  received  the  stern 
rebuke  of  the  prophet ;  "Is  it  time  to  receive  money, 
and  to  receive  garments,  and  olive  yards,  and  vine- 
yards, and  sheep,  and  oxen,  and  men-servants,  and 
maid-servants?"  And  Gehazi  went  out  from  the 
presence  of  Elisha  a  leper  as  white  as  snow.  It  was 
to  this  same  city  also  that  Elisha  led  the  Syrian 
army  from  Dothan  smitten  with  blindness,  and, 
instead  of  smiting  them  with  the  sword  caused  bread 
and  water  to  be  set  before  them,  and,  after  he  had 
fed  them,  sent  them  away  in  peace. 

Notwithstanding  the  many  acts  of  mercy  shown 
by  God  to  Samaria  through  the  prophets,  the  wor- 


92      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

ship  of  Baal  was  firmly  established  by  Ahab  and 
his  queen.  For  this  and  the  wickedness  of  the 
inhabitants  the  burden  of  prophecy  came  against  the 
city,  and  one  cannot  even  look  at  the  ruins  and 
desolation  of  the  present  miserable  village,  and  all 
around  and  about  the  hill  of  Samaria,  without 
recalling  to  mind  such  words  of  the  Lord  as  these : 
"Samaria  shall  become  desolate,  for  she  hath  rebelled 
against  her  God."  Hos.  13:16.  "I  will  make 
Samaria  as  an  heap  of  the  field,  and  as  plantings 
of  a  vineyard,  and  I  will  pour  down  the  stones 
thereof  into  the  valley,  and  I  will  discover  the 
foundations  thereof."  Micah  1 : 6.  These  proph- 
ecies have  been  literally  fulfilled,  for  Samaria  is 
at  this  moment  a  "heap  of  the  field"  and  her  founda- 
tions are  in  sight.  The  first  intimation  our  party 
had  that  we  were  nearing  the  city's  site  at  all  was 
the  seeing  of  cut  and  carved  stones  that  time  had 
"poured  down"  the  side  of  the  hill  "toward  the 
valley." 

The  city  has  been  destroyed  and  rebuilt  a  number 
of  times.  It  is  now  a  small  village  called  Sebaste, 
or  Sebastiyeh,  from  the  Greek  word  for  Augustus. 
The  emperor  Augustus  had  presented  the  town  to 
Herod  the  Great,  who  caused  it  to  be  handsomely 
restored  and  fortified,  and  gave  it  this  name  in 
honor  of  the  giver ;  but  the  old  name  of  Samaria  has 
persisted  through  all  the  centuries. 


THE  CHURCH   OF   ST.   JOHN   IN   SAMARIA,   NOW  A   MOSQUE. 


RUINS    OF    HEROD  S    TEMPLE,     SAMARIA. 


SANUR  AND  SAMARIA  93 

Though  it  is  now  but  a  small  hamlet  there  are 
abundant  traces  of  its  former  greatness.  Ruined 
columns  and  broken  arches  scattered  everywhere 
speak  eloquently  of  its  former  grandeur.  Terraces 
ran  around  the  hill  from  top  to  bottom.  On  the 
second  terrace  from  the  top  stand  the  remaining 
pillars  of  a  magnificent  double  colonnade  built  by 
Herod  the  Great.  The  colonnade  was  sixty  feet 
wide  and  swept  around  the  hill  in  beauty,  "A  gleam- 
ing coronet  of  marble,"  for  a  distance  of  over  five 
thousand  feet.  Over  seventy  of  these  columns  are 
standing  after  nineteen  centuries  and  many  others 
lie  half  or  wholly  buried  beneath  the  soil,  or  scattered 
on  the  lower  terraces.  The  columns,  all  of  which 
have  lost  their  capitals,  are  sixteen  feet  high,  and 
most  of  them  are  monoliths. 

The  largest  of  the  ruined  structures  yet  remaining 
on  the  slope  of  the  hill  is  the  Church  of  St.  John 
the  Baptist,  built  by  the  Crusaders  in  the  twelfth 
century.  St.  Jerome  is  the  first  author  who  men- 
tions the  tradition  that  it  was  here  John  was  be- 
headed. The  church  was  converted  into  a  mosque 
at  an  early  period  in  Mohammedan  history.  Un- 
fortunately, in  a  reconstruction  in  1894  the  original 
form  of  the  building  was  almost  entirely  obliterated. 
The  present  building,  including  the  porch,  is  one 
hundred  and  sixty-five  feet  long,  seventy-five  feet 
wide,   and  has   a  not  unattractive  minaret.     The 


94      THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

Tomb  of  John  the  Baptist  is  shown  in  the  crypt, 
which  is  a  small  chamber  hewn  deeply  in  the  rock. 
From  this  crypt  we  were  permitted  to  look  through 
holes  into  three  empty  tomb  chambers,  which  are 
said  to  be  the  tombs  of  John  the  Baptist,  of  Obadiah 
and  of  Elisha.  Near  the  church  is  an  ancient  reser- 
voir which  suggests  the  "Pool  of  Samaria"  where 
one  washed  the  blood-stained  chariot  Ahab,  in  which, 
at  last,  the  king  had  meet  his  doom.  To  the  north 
of  the  church  are  the  ruins  of  a  large  building,  at 
the  corners  of  which  were  strong  square  towers. 
The  building  was  either  the  residence  of  the  bishop 
or  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John. 

In  and  among  the  houses  of  the  modern  village 
are  scattered  many  fragments  of  ancient  buildings, 
such  as  hewn  blocks,  shafts  of  columns,  capitals,  and 
portions  of  entablatures.  The  natives  are  of  the 
most  fanatical  and  impudent,  and  are  the  most 
dangerous  looking  of  any  we  met  in  Palestine,  unless 
we  might  except  those  of  Hebron.  They  were  very 
persistent  in  offering  coins  and  other  relics  for  sale ; 
but  it  was  necessary  for  a  number  of  persons  to  keep 
together  and  then  not  to  allow  the  natives  to  come  too 
near,  to  prevent  being  robbed  or  having  their  pockets 
picked.  Above  the  village  is  a  large  artificially 
levelled  terrace  which  is  now  used  for  a  threshing- 
floor.  It  was  here,  on  mats  spread  on  the  ground, 
we  had  our  lunch  at  noon,  and  rested  ourselves  and 


SANUR  AND  SAMARIA  95 

our  horses.  To  the  west  of  this,  near  by  in  an  olive 
orchard,  stand  upward  of  a  dozen  high  columns. 
They  form  an  oblong  quadrangle,  and  are  generally 
believed  to  mark  the  site  of  the  magnificent  temple 
which  Herod  is  said  to  have  erected  in  honor  of 
Augustus  "on  a  large  open  space  in  the  middle  of 
the  city."  On  the  southwest,  a  little  below  the 
crest  of  the  hill,  the  thick  foundation  walls  of  a 
good  sized  building  are  seen.  In  the  interior  are 
four  columns.  The  building  may  be  part  of  a  for- 
tress or  a  watch  tower.  To  the  northeast,  at  the 
base  of  the  hill,  where  it  forms  a  bay,  are  further 
numerous  columns,  thought  to  be  the  ruins  of  a 
hippodrome,  which  must  have  been  not  less  than 
fourteen  hundred  feet  long  and  one  hundred  and 
eighty  feet  wide.  It  is  said,  however,  that  they 
may  possibly  have  belonged  to  a  second  colonnade 
which  diverged  at  an  angle  from  the  one  we  men- 
tioned first. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

SHECHEM  AND  THE  SAMARITANS. 

>fP\NE  of  the  most  ancient  as  well  as  most  inter- 
^>r  esting  places  in  all  Palestine  is  Nablous,  better 
known  to  us  by  its  Bible  name,  Shechem.  Here 
we  came  and  camped  for  the  night,  after  a  short  ride 
of  two  hours  from  Samaria.  The  name  Nablous 
means  Neapolis,  or  New  City,  so  called  from  the 
circumstance  of  its  having  been  rebuilt  or  restored 
in  Roman  times.  It  was  also  sometimes  called 
Mamortha  or  Mabortha,  which  signifies  "pass,"  or 
"place  of  passage,"  from  its  location  in  the  pass  or 
valley  between  the  two  hills  Ebal  and  Gerizim. 

By  some  convulsion  of  nature  the  central  ridge 
of  mountains  running  north  and  south  has  been  cleft 
open  here  at  right  angles,  forming  a  deep  valley 
running  east  and  west,  now  known  as  the  Vale  of 
Nablous.  This  valley  is  itself  at  least  eighteen 
hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  The  moun- 
tains on  each  side  tower  to  an  elevation  of  about 
one  thousand  feet,  or,  to  be  exact,  Mt.  Gerizim  is 
two  thousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-nine  feet 
above  sea  level  and  nine  hundred  and  sixty-nine  feet 


SHECHEM  AND  THE  SAMARITANS      97 

above  Nablous,  while  Mt.  Ebal  is  three  thousand 
seventy-seven  feet  above  sea  level  and  one  thousand 
two  hundred  and  seven  above  Nablous.  Ebal  is  on 
the  north,  Gerizim  on  the  south,  and  the  city  between. 
Near  the  eastern  end  there  is  a  place  where  the  valley 
is  not  over  one  thousand  feet  wide,  with  concave 
places  on  the  sides  of  the  mountains  forming  a  sort 
of  natural  amphitheatre.  It  is  here,  it  is  believed, 
the  tribes  assembled  to  hear  the  reading  of  the  law, 
as  recorded  in  Deuteronomy,  chapters  twenty-seven 
and  twenty-eight.  From  Gerizim  the  blessings  of 
obedience  were  pronounced  and  from  Ebal  the 
curses  of  disobedience  thundered,  while  all  the  hosts 
of  Israel  in  the  valley  below  listened  and  were 
admonished. 

Another  striking  feature  of  the  location  of  Nablous 
is  that  it  lies  at  the  "summit"  of  the  valley,  the  city 
being  exactly  on  the  height  of  the  water-shed. 
Within  the  limits  of  the  town  there  are  over  twenty 
copious  springs.  From  some  of  these  the  water 
flows  east  into  the  Jordan  and  from  others  west  into 
the  Mediterranean.  These  streams,  clear  and  cool 
and  copious,  render  the  environs  beautifully  green 
and  fertile.  As  some  one  has  truly  said,  "There 
is  certainly  no  spot  in  central  Palestine  which  rivals 
this  narrow  valley  in  rich  verdure,  luxuriant  vegeta- 
tion, and  luscious  fruitage.  It  calls  forth  the  admir- 
ation of  travellers  from  every  clime,  and  may  be 
13 


98       THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

regarded  as  a  typical  representative  of  the  natural 
beauty  and  extraordinary  productiveness  of  'the 
good  land'  when  in  its  best  estate." 

We  well  remember  our  coming  down  into  this 
valley  on  our  way  south  from  Samaria.  It  was 
at  a  point  about  three  miles  west  of  Nablous.  The 
city  was  in  plain  sight  ahead  of  us,  but  quite  up  at 
the  valley's  highest  point.  On  one  side  or  the  other 
all  the  way  up,  fine  streams  were  flowing  swiftly  by 
and  everywhere  aqueducts  or  small  canals  were  seen, 
the  water  being  so  manipulated  that  practically  all 
the  available  ground  was  irrigated,  and  the  crops 
were  growing  finely.  Every  here  and  there  was  a 
dam  and  by  it  a  mill.  The  whole  region  was  in 
marked  contrast  to  what  we  had  seen,  both  in  the 
abundance  of  vegetation  and  in  the  evident  enter- 
prise and  industry  of  the  people.  The  Vale  of 
Shechem  is  certainly  one  of  the  "beauty  spots"  of 
Palestine.  It  is  the  place,  say  the  Moslem  possess- 
ors, "beloved  by  Allah  above  all  other  places,"  and 
"his  blessing  rests  upon  it."  Though  on  account 
of  their  bigotry,  fierceness  and  dishonesty  we  fear 
they  are  mistaken  about  Allah's  pleasure  in  them. 

Nablous  is  one  of  the  few  places  of  the  East  that 
seem  to  have  felt  the  touch  of  the  business  life  of  the 
modern  world.  It  is  still  far  below  the  standard 
of  even  the  smallest  American  city,  but  it  does  seem 
as  if  its  rushing  streams  had  communicated  to  the 


SHECHEM  AND  THE  SAMARITANS      99 

people  a  little  of  their  own  rapid  movement.  At 
least,  they  have  set  the  wheels  of  industry  in  motion. 
Besides  the  oil  presses  which  receive  the  abundant 
yield  of  the  orchards  and  turn  it  into  oil,  there  are 
some  fifteen  or  twenty  factories  engaged  in  turning 
the  oil  into  soap,  which  has  become  a  large  article 
of  export  to  Joppa  and  Beirut  and  other  ports  of 
the  Mediterranean.  Shechem  also  carries  on  con- 
siderable trade  with  the  country  east  of  the  Jordan, 
particularly  in  wool  and  cotton.  It  was  really 
refreshing  after  passing  through  so  many  places  that 
seemed  more  dead  than  alive,  to  come  to  one  town 
that  showed  some  sign  of  enterprise,  in  this  sleepy 
old  country. 

A  site  so  fair  and  lovely  invited  by  its  many  waters 
the  earliest  settlement  of  mankind.  As  old  as 
Damascus  and  Hebron,  Shechem  was  undoubtedly 
a  city  of  some  importance  while  Abram  was  still 
living  in  Chaldea.  For  it  was  to  the  outskirts  of 
this  place  he  came,  more  than  forty  centuries  ago, 
with  his  flocks  and  his  herds,  when  God  called  him 
unto  Canaan.  Here,  then  known  as  Sichem,  was 
his  first  halting  place  after  he  had  passed  over  the 
Jordan  and  entered  the  Promised  Land;  here  he 
built  his  first  altar,  and  here  "the  Lord  appeared  unto 
him."  The  record  is,  "And  Abram  passed  through 
the  land  into  the  place  of  Sichem,  unto  the  plain  (or 
oak)   of  Moreh.     And  the  Canaanite  was  then  in 


ioo     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

the  land.  And  the  Lord  appeared  unto  Abram,  and 
said,  Unto  thy  seed  will  I  give  this  land :  and  there 
builded  he  an  altar  unto  the  Lord,  who  appeared  unto 
him." 

While  the  eastern  end  of  the  Vale  of  Shechem 
opens  out  into  what  is  now  called  the  Plain  of  Moreh 
it  is  a  striking  fact  that  the  word  here  in  Genesis 
translated  "plain"  is  in  fact  "oak."  It  is  so  corrected 
in  the  Revised  Version.  It  is  a  curious  fact  also 
that  the  oak  thus  mentioned  appears  also  in  the 
account  of  Jacob's  residence  here  two  generations 
later,  for  Jacob  was  Abraham's  grandson.  It  is 
stated  that  Jacob  "hid  all  the  strange  gods"  that 
were  in  his  family  "under  the  oak  which  was  by 
Shechem."  Yet,  again,  in  the  time  of  Joshua,  this 
oak  seems  to  be  mentioned,  at  the  time  he  made  his 
farewell  covenant  with  Israel  at  Shechem.  It  is 
said :  "And  Joshua  wrote  these  words  in  the  book 
of  the  law  of  God,  and  took  a  great  stone,  and  set 
it  up  there  under  an  oak,  that  was  by  the  sanctuary 
of  the  Lord." 

The  present  city  contains  about  twenty-four 
thousand  inhabitants  including  one  hundred  and 
seventy  Samaritans — the  only  remaining  rem- 
nant of  that  people — a  few  Jews,  about  seven 
hundred  Christians,  mostly  members  of  the  orthodox 
Greek  Church,  a  few  Roman  Catholics  and  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  Protestants.     The  place  is  the 


SHECHEM  AND  THE  SAMARITANS    101 

seat  of  a  subordinate  Turkish  governorship  and  has 
a  garrison  accommodating  a  regiment  of  infantry. 
It  is  the  seat  also  of  a  bishopric  of  the  orthodox 
Greek  Church.  It  has  eight  large  Mohammedan 
Mosques,  two  so-called  colleges,  one  for  girls  and 
one  for  boys,  and  a  number  of  lower  grade  schools 
called  Koran  Schools.  It  is  also  a  station  of  the 
English  Church  Missionary  Society,  which  main- 
tains here  a  church,  a  school  and  a  hospital.  There 
is  also  a  Roman  Catholic  Church  with  mission  house 
attached  and  the  united  and  Orthodox  Greeks  each 
have  a  church.  One  of  the  Mohammedan  Mosques, 
called  the  Great  Mosque,  bears  quite  a  remarkable 
resemblance  to  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  in 
Jerusalem.  It  is  believed  to  have  been  originally  a 
church  built  by  the  Christian  Emperor  Justinian. 
Another  interesting  mosque  is  called  The  Mosque 
of  Victory,  or  more  popularly  "The  Green  Mosque." 
It  also  was  probably  a  Crusaders'  church.  We  are 
told  it  is  on  the  spot  where  Jacob  stood  when  his 
guilty  sons  brought  Joseph's  blood-stained  coat  and 
showed  it  to  him.  By  the  side  of  the  church  rises 
a  peculiar  sort  of  clock-tower  and  on  it  is  a  Samari- 
tan inscription.  The  Samaritans  say  that  they  once 
possessed  a  synagogue  here.  In  the  northeast 
corner  of  the  town  is  a  mosque  called  "The  Mosque 
of  the  Lepers,"  being  attended  exclusively  by  the 
lepers  who  have  a  home  in  the  buildings  about  it. 


102     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

It  is  believed  that  this  Mosque  too  was  erected  by 
the  Crusaders  as  a  hospital  for  the  Templars.  A 
little  further  to  the  north  we  were  shown  what 
Muslim  tradition  declares  to  be  the  Tomb  of  Jacob's 
sons,  with  a  nearly  new  mosque  beside  it. 

But,  as  we  have  already  intimated,  the  main  inter- 
est of  the  present  city  clusters  about  the  small  rem- 
nant of  the  ancient  Samaritans  who  reside  here. 
There  are  many  small  religious  communities  in  the 
world,  but  we  hardly  think  there  can  be  another  so 
small  which  is  at  the  same  time  so  old.  As  we  have 
said,  all  told  there  are  but  one  hundred  and  seventy 
souls,  all  of  whom  live  in  Nablous ;  but  their  history 
goes  back  to  the  time  of  Christ  and  even  beyond, 
to  the  captivity  of  the  ten  tribes.  After  the  north- 
ern kingdom  had  been  carried  to  the  east  by  the 
Assyrians,  foreign  colonists  were  imported  by  the 
king  of  Assyria,  from  Babylon  and  many  other 
places  in  the  empire.  By  intermarriage  with  these 
and  the  remnant  of  the  Jews  the  population  acquired 
a  mixed  character.  The  Jews,  as  we  know,  have 
always  been  jealous  of  the  purity  of  their  racial 
blood.  The  captivity  in  Babylon,  among  the  strange 
and  heathen  people,  had,  if  possible,  intensified  this 
feeling  of  exclusiveness.  On  their  return  from 
Babylon  they  were  much  scandalized  at  finding  that 
their  brethren  had  yielded  to  the  seduction  of  the 
foreigners,  and  had  married  among  them  indiscrimi- 


SHECHBM  AND  THE  SAMARITANS    103 

nately.  It  was  this,  born  of  the  spirit  of  jealous 
reserve,  which  prompted  the  Jews  to  refuse  the  prof- 
fered aid  of  the  Samaritans  in  building  the  walls 
of  Jerusalem  and  of  the  temple.  Finding  that  the 
Jews  had  excluded  them  from  all  participation  in 
their  worship  they  founded  a  holy  city  of  their  own, 
and  a  sanctuary  of  their  own.  Shechem  was  the 
holy  city  and  the  temple  was  built  on  Mount 
Gerizim.  There  was  a  standing  quarrel  between 
the  Jews  and  the  Samaritans,  sometimes  even  break- 
ing out  in  warfare  and  bloodshed,  from  that  time 
on.  Even  in  the  time  of  Christ,  as  we  know,  "the 
Jews  had  no  dealings  with  the  Samaritans,"  even 
regarding  their  name  as  a  term  of  reproach.  Be- 
cause they  adhered  so  firmly  to  their  religion  they 
later  came  into  conflict  with  Christianity,  under  the 
Roman  Empire,  and  because  of  repeated  insurrec- 
tions many  of  them  were  martyred.  Some  embraced 
Christianity,  and  others  were  scattered  into  distant 
regions.  In  the  twelfth  century  over  one  thousand 
of  them  were  living  at  Shechem,  and  there  were  also 
colonies  of  them  at  Ashkelon,  Csesarea  and  Damascus. 
Later  there  were  small  communities  of  them  also 
at  Cairo  and  Gaza.  Their  number  is  steadily  dimin- 
ishing and  for  some  years  past  they  have  been  found 
only  at  Shechem.  The  small  remnant  numbers  less 
than  two  hundred.  Here  they  live,  in  a  distinct 
quarter  of  the  city,  a  peculiar  people,  and  preserving 


104     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

to  a  marked  degree  the  venerable  type  of  Jewish 
physiognomy. 

The  streets  of  Shechem,  especially  in  the  Samari- 
tan quarter,  are  so  narrow  that  the  houses  usually 
are  joined  above  and  then  the  streets  become  a 
tunnel  with  an  occasional  shaft  overhead  to  admit 
a  ray  of  light  and  a  little  air.  Through  these 
crooked  streets  we  made  our  way  to  their  synagogue. 
On  our  way,  in  a  bare  room,  we  saw  a  school,  where 
the  boys  were  studying  the  Samaritan  dialect  of  the 
Hebrew.  They  must  have  been  studying  very  hard, 
for  they  were  all  doing  it  almost  at  the  top  of  their 
voices.  Reaching  the  synagogue  the  rabbi,  who  is 
a  very  venerable  and  fine  appearing  man,  received  us 
cordially.  Putting  slippers  on  our  feet,  to  show 
due  reverence,  we  entered  the  main  room  of  the 
synagogue,  which,  small  as  it  is,  is  too  small  to  con- 
tain all  the  people  of  the  congregation.  The  thick- 
walled  building  has  a  small  dome,  a  kind  of  altar  or 
holy  place,  and  is  so  constructed  that  during  worship 
the  congregation  faces  Mount  Gerizim.  The  rabbi 
claims  to  be  a  high  priest  of  the  tribe  of  Levi,  and 
signed  himself  on  photographs  of  himself  holding 
the  Samaritan  Pentateuch,  which  he  sold  us,  as 
"Jacob,  son  of  Aaron,  Chief  Priest." 

As  is  well  known,  the  Samaritans  accept  only  the 
five  books  of  Moses  as  their  Bible,  but  the  teaching 
of  the  Law  they  observe  with  scrupulous  care,  and 


A    SAMARITAN    PRIEST. 


SHECHEM  AND  THE  SAMARITANS    105 

their  own  priceless  treasure  is  a  copy  of  the  Samari- 
tan version  of  the  Pentateuch,  which  they  claim 
was  written  by  Abishua,  the  son  of  Phineas,  the  son 
of  Eleazer,  the  son  Aaron.  It  is  astonishing  to 
find  that  it  is  written  in  the  "round"  Hebrew  char- 
acter, which  was  in  use  before  the  days  of  Ezra. 
Scholars  believe  that  it  is  a  copy  of  older  manu- 
scripts which  was  made  about  the  fourth  century 
after  Christ.  They  hold  it  in  high  reverence.  When 
we  offered  to  touch  it  the  rabbi  gently  forbade  us ;  but 
small  imitations  of  it  were  offered  us  in  tin  cases  at 
prices  varying  from  twenty-five  cents  to  one  dollar. 
The  copy  they  show  is  in  a  remarkable  silver  case, 
the  outside  of  which  is  figured  with  a  representa- 
tion of  the  tabernacle  of  Moses,  the  ark,  the  cherubim, 
the  rods  of  Moses  and  Aaron,  the  altars  for  burnt 
offerings  and  for  incense,  the  seven-branched  candle- 
stick, and,  in  short,  all  the  tabernacle  furniture. 

They  observe  seven  feasts  in  the  year ;  though  only 
one,  the  passover,  is  observed  with  its  former 
solemnities.  The  Sabbath  is  kept  by  them  with 
great  strictness.  The  years  of  jubilee  and  release 
are  also  observed.  The  high  priest  may  consecrate 
any  of  his  family  to  the  priesthood  provided  he  is 
over  twenty-five  years  old  and  has  never  had  his 
hair  cut.  They  wear  white  turbans,  or,  for  the  sake 
of  keeping  peace  with  the  Mohammedans,  more  often 
of  pale-red  color.  The  women  must  let  their  hair 
14 


106     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

grow,  and  wear  no  ear-rings,  because  of  them  the 
golden  calf  was  made.  When  a  boy  is  born  there  is 
great  rejoicing,  and  his  circumcision  always  takes 
place  on  the  eighth  day  after  his  birth.  Boys  marry 
as  early  as  fifteen  or  sixteen  years  of  age  and  girls 
at  twelve,  and  Samaritans  may  marry  Christian  or 
Jewish  girls  provided  they  will  become  Samaritans. 

As  we  said,  their  most  important  annual  obser- 
vance is  the  feast  of  the  Passover,  which  they  keep 
more  nearly  according  to  the  directions  in  Exodus 
than  do  the  Jews  themselves.  For  this  they  are 
encamped  in  booths  or  tents  on  Mount  Gerizim. 
Lambs  one  year  old  are  selected,  and,  as  the  sun 
goes  down,  are  slain  and  placed  over  the  fire.  The 
blood  is  caught  and  sprinkled  over  the  sides  and 
tops  of  the  doors.  About  midnight,  when  the  lambs 
are  roasted,  they  are  eaten  with  bitter  herbs  and  un- 
leavened bread,  and  in  great  haste.  Any  parts 
remaining  are  burned  with  fire. 

The  Samaritan  population  is  a  strong  corrobora- 
tive argument  for  the  truth  of  the  Bible.  Their 
copy  of  the  Pentateuch  agrees  in  all  essential  respects 
with  the  Hebrew  Bibles  from  which  our  English 
versions  are  translated.  In  some  particulars  it 
closely  agrees  with  the  Septuagint,  the  Greek  trans- 
lation made  in  Egypt  in  the  third  century  before 
Christ.  The  course  of  their  history,  too,  is  quite 
clear  back  as  far  as  the  building  of  the  second  temple, 


SHECHEM  AND  THE  SAMARITANS    107 

about  536  B.  C.  One  cannot  but  pity  this  vanishing 
remnant  of  an  historic  people.  Their  reverence  for 
their  fragment  of  Scripture  is  touching,  pathetic, 
inspiring.  It  points  them  to  the  Star  which  should 
arise  out  of  Jacob;  but  when  the  Star  arose,  when 
Christ  came  among  them  in  person,  most  of  them 
failed  to  recognize  who  he  was.  Their  day  seems 
nearly  done,  their  entire  disappearance  as  a  com- 
munity only  a  matter  of  a  comparatively  short  time. 


CHAPTER  X. 

SYCHAR  AND  JACOB'S  WELL. 

Hfter  a  night  not  a  little  disturbed  by  the 
screeching  of  jackals  outside  our  tents,  we  re- 
sumed our  journey  from  Shechem  toward  Jerusalem. 
We  had  camped  just  east  of  the  city.  Passing  be- 
tween Ebal  and  Gerazim,  within  a  few  minutes,  the 
distance  being  a  little  over  a  mile,  we  came  to  the 
village  of  Balata.  This  name,  Balata,  is  from  the 
word  ballut,  meaning  oak.  It  was  here,  according 
to  early  Christian  tradition  and  the  Samaritan 
chronicle,  stood  the  oak  of  Shechem,  or  the  oak  of 
Moreh,  where  Abram  first  tarried  in  Canaan  and 
where  he  built  an  altar,  where  Jacob  hid  the  idols  of 
his  family,  and  where  Joshua  set  up  a  memorial 
stone  when  he  took  the  parting  covenant  from  Israel. 

On  the  way  we  had  passed  the  famous  spring  Ain 
Defna,  with  a  large  Turkish  barracks,  an  arsenal 
and  a  hospital  near  by. 

The  village  of  Balata  lies  at  the  foot  of  Mt.  Gera- 
zim at  the  point  where  the  narrow  Vale  of  Shechem 
begins  to  widen  out  into  the  Plain  of  Moreh,  or,  as  it 
is   now   called,   the   plain   of   El   Mukhnah.     Just 


SYCHAR  AND  JACOB'S   WELL         109 

opposite  Balata,  across  the  narrow  valley,  at  the 
eastern  base  of  Mt.  Ebal,  lies  the  Sychar  of  New 
Testament  times,  now  known  as  Askar. 

It  is  just  here,  at  the  eastern  opening  of  the  Vale 
of  Shechem,  almost  between  Balata  and  Askar,  but 
a  little  east  of  Balata,  lies  two  of  the  most  interest- 
ing places  to  be  visited  in  all  Palestine,  Jacob's  Well 
and  Joseph's  Tomb. 

The  well  is  just  off  the  road  on  the  left  side  as  you 
journey  east,  after  passing  Balata,  and  Joseph's 
Tomb  is  in  plain  sight  near  by  on  the  road  which 
runs  north  past  Askar,  or  Sychar. 

Sychar  is  not,  as  was  so  long  supposed,  another 
form  of  the  name  for  Shechem.  It  is  made  plain  from 
the  speech  of  Stephen,  recorded  in  the  Acts,  that 
Shechem  was  known  in  the  time  of  Christ  under  its 
own  proper  name.  Not  only  so,  but  this  place  is 
much  better  suited  to  the  narrative  concerning  Christ 
and  the  Samaritan  woman  than  is  Shechem,  for  it  is 
scarcely  half  a  mile  from  Jacob's  Well,  whereas 
Shechem  is  a  mile  and  a  half  away.  This  is  rather 
far  for  the  woman  to  have  come  out  after  water — 
though  it  is  not  necessary  to  assume  she  came  for 
it  from  the  city,  as  it  is  more  likely  she  was  working 
in  the  vicinity  and  came  to  the  well  from  the  place 
where  she  was.  But  that  the  present  Askar  is  the 
ancient  Sychar  is  made  all  the  more  probable  from 
the  statement  in  John's  account  of  Christ's  talk  with 


no     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

the  Samaritan  woman,  when  he  says  plainly  that  the 
city  was  "near  the  parcel  of  ground  that  Jacob  gave 
to  his  son  Joseph."  As  we  have  said,  Joseph's  Tomb 
is  near  by  where  Christ  and  the  woman  were,  and 
Sychar  also  is  near  by.  The  account  also  agrees 
well  with  the  circumstances  that  the  woman  ran  into 
the  city  and  soon  returned  followed  by  the  people. 

As  we  have  intimated,  few  places  that  we  visited 
awakened  deeper  emotions  or  made  a  stronger  im- 
pression on  our  minds  than  Jacob's  Well.  To  think 
that  our  eyes  were  privileged  to  look  upon  the  very 
spot  where  Jesus  sat  and  talked  with  the  woman  of 
Samaria !  For  of  all  the  places  where  Jesus  walked 
or  talked  this  is  the  most  reliably  identified.  We 
may  not  know  the  house  in  Nazareth  in  which  he 
lived.  No  one  can  point  out  the  precise  spot  in  the 
Garden  of  Gethsemane  where  he  poured  out  his  soul 
in  prayer  and  sorrow.  Just  where  was  the  home 
in  Bethany  in  which  he  so  often  rested,  or  where 
was  the  garden  which  witnessed  his  resurrection,  or 
from  which  cone  of  Olivet  he  ascended  into  heaven, 
no  one  with  certainty  can  tell ;  but  we  do  know  that 
here,  weary,  dust-covered  and  thirsty,  "He  sat  thus 
on  the  well,"  while  his  disciples  passed  on  to  the 
city  to  purchase  food.  And  here,  to  a  lone  woman 
of  Samaria,  undoubtedly  a  questionable  character,  in 
a  tactful  and  most  beautiful  manner  he  preached 
one  of  the  most  meaningful  discourses  that  ever  was 


SYCHAR  AND  JACOB'S   WELL         in 

uttered.  In  what  a  delicate  and  wonderful  way  he 
unfolded  to  the  woman  her  life  of  sin,  the  freeness 
and  thirst-satisfying  qualities  of  the  Gospel,  and  led 
her  to  believe  in  himself  as  the  promised  Messiah. 
So  interested  he  became  that  he  forgot  his  thirst; 
and  so  joyous  of  heart  the  believing  woman  became 
that  she  forgot  her  water- jar,  and  leaving  it  at  the 
well  hastened  away  to  the  city  to  publish  the  good 
news  that  had  come  to  her  own  soul. 

O  Wonderful  Teacher!  Deep  was  our  emotion 
as  we  sat  thus  on  the  well  and  thought  of  this  marvel- 
ous story  and  of  him  who  was  the  source  of  it. 

Out  of  this  little  wayside  incident  at  the  well — the 
mere  request  for  a  drink  of  water — grew  this  beauti- 
ful account,  this  wonderful  discourse  of  Jesus,  and 
the  thronging  multitudes  inquiring  the  way  of  salva- 
tion, whose  eager,  upturned  faces  suggested  to  him 
the  comparison  of  the  whitened  field  ready  for  the 
spiritual  harvest. 

Instead  of  resting  for  a  brief  half  hour  on  the 
well,  Jesus  abode  for  two  whole  days  in  the  city  of 
the  seeking  multitudes.  To  be  sure,  the  Jews  had  no 
dealings  with  the  Samaritans,  but  when  the  Samari- 
tans asked  for  salvation  Jesus  delayed  his  going  into 
Galilee  to  comply  with  the  request  and  plant  there 
the  seeds  of  the  kingdom  of  grace. 

The  reader  will  doubtless  wish  a  description  of 
the  well  itself,  as  it  appears  to-day.     There  is  a 


ii2     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

ruined  chapel  or  crypt  which  has  protected  the 
mouth  of  the  well  from  the  drifts  of  earth  and  dis- 
integrated rock  that  has  been  forming  about  it  for 
ages.  This  crypt  is  the  successor  of  another  struc- 
ture which  dated  back  to  the  fourth  century.  The 
well  belongs  to  the  Greek  Church  and  is  now, 
together  with  quite  a  space  of  ground  about  it,  en- 
closed by  a  high  stone  wall,  and  a  small  fee  is  charged 
for  entrance. 

For  many  years  the  visible  opening  of  the  well 
was  in  the  floor  of  the  subterranean  chapel  and  could 
only  be  reached  by  a  descent  of  eight  or  ten  feet 
through  its  vaulted  roof.  Since  the  discovery  of 
the  real  mouth  of  the  well,  under  the  floor  of  the 
chapel,  by  Dr.  C.  A.  Barclay,  in  1881,  the  rubbish 
has  been  cleared  away,  and  access  to  it  has  been 
made  easy  from  the  level  of  the  ground  outside. 

The  account  of  his  remarkable  and  most  important 
discovery  was  given  by  Dr.  Barclay  in  a  letter  to  the 
officers  of  the  Palestine  Exploration  Fund.  The 
letter  is  so  interesting  that  we  take  the  liberty  of 
quoting  from  it  at  considerable  length.     He  said : 

"Jacob's  well  has  again  and  again  been  described 
by  writers  on  Palestine,  and  all  have  mentioned  their 
disappointment  that  instead  of  finding  any  resem- 
blance to  a  well,  or  anything  which  would  recall  the 
interview  of  our  Lord  with  the  woman  of  Samaria, 
they  have  merely  found  a  dark,  irregular  hole  amid 


SYCHAR  AND  JACOB'S   WELL         113 

a  mass  of  ruins  in  a  vaulted  chamber  beneath  the 
surface  of  the  ground.  I  have  shared  this  disap- 
pointment on  many  previous  visits  to  Nablous,  and 
again,  as  a  fortnight  ago  I  stood  with  my  wife  beside 
the  spot,  it  was  with  great  regret  that  we  were  utterly 
unable  to  picture  before  us  the  scene  so  graphically 
described  by  the  Evangelist.  We  had  clambered 
down  into  the  vault,  and  were  vainly  attempting  to 
peer  into  the  dark  hole  amid  the  heaps  of  stones  and 
rubbish,  when  we  chanced  to  notice,  a  few  feet  from 
the  opening,  a  dark  crack  between  the  stones. 
Fancying  that  possibly  it  might  be  another  opening 
of  the  well*  we  removed  some  stones  and  earth,  and 
soon  were  able  to  trace  part  of  a  curved  aperture  in  a 
large  slab  of  stone.  Deeply  interested  at  finding  this, 
we  cleared  away  more  earth  and  stones  and  soon 
distinguished  the  circular  mouth  of  the  well,  though 
it  was  blocked  by  an  immense  mass  of  stone.  Call- 
ing to  aid  two  men  who  were  looking  on,  with  con- 
siderable labor  we  at  length  managed  to  remove  it, 
and  the  opening  of  the  well  was  clear.  It  is  im- 
possible to  describe  our  feelings  as  we  gazed  down 
the  open  well,  and  sat  on  that  ledge  on  which  doubt- 
less the  Saviour  rested,  and  felt  with  our  fingers  the 
grooves  in  the  stone  caused  by  the  ropes  by  which 
the  water-pots  were  drawn  up.  The  following  day 
we  devoted  to  completely  excavating  round  the  open- 
ing of  the  well,  and  laying  bare  the  massive  stones 

15 


ii4     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

which  form  its  mouth.  This  consists  of  the  hard 
white  limestone  of  the  country,  and  is  in  fair  preser- 
vation, though  parts  are  broken  away  here  and 
there." 

He  gives  the  exact  measurements  of  the  stone  curb 
as  follows, — length  three  feet  nine  inches,  breadth 
two  feet  seven  inches,  thickness  one  foot  six  inches, 
height  above  pavement  one  foot  one  inch,  breadth 
of  aperture  of  the  well,  one  foot  five  and  a  half 
inches.  He  adds :  "We  let  a  boy  down  to  the 
bottom,  but  found  nothing  of  any  interest,  but  evi- 
dently there  is  a  large  accumulation  of  rubbish.  I 
trust  that  a  stone  of  such  intense  interest  may  long 
remain  uninjured  now  that  it  has  been  exposed  to 
light." 

The  well  is  lined  with  good  sized  stones,  smoothly 
dressed  and  nicely  fitted  together,  and  is  a  perfect 
cylinder,  seven  feet  six  inches  in  diameter.  Rev. 
Dr.  Edward  Robinson  quotes  an  earlier  explorer 
as  stating  that  when  visited  by  him  it  was  one  hun- 
dred and  five  feet  deep  and  contained  fifteen  feet 
of  water.  Captain  Anderson  was  the  first  explorer 
to  descend  it,  which  was  in  1866.  He  was  let  down 
by  a  rope,  the  untwisting  of  which  under  the  tension 
of  his  weight  caused  him  to  revolve  so  rapidly  that 
he  fainted  on  his  way  down.  Upon  returning  to 
consciousness  he  found  himself  on  his  back  in  the  dry 
bottom  of  the  well.     He  said  that  on  looking  up 


SYCHAR  AND  JACOB'S   WELL         115 

the  opening  at  the  top  appeared  to  him  like  a  star. 
He  found  an  unbroken  pitcher  in  the  bottom,  which 
must  have  fallen  when  there  was  water  in  the  well, 
or  it  would  have  broken.  He  also  found  the  depth 
to  be  seventy-five  feet.  He  states  that  it  had  been 
filled  up  ten  feet  in  the  previous  ten  years.  On  our 
visit  one  of  the  members  of  the  party  let  down  a  line 
and  it  measured  sixty-six  feet  six  inches,  showing 
that  the  process  of  filling  up,  which  is  due  to  a 
custom  long  followed  by  all  visitors,  both  native  and 
foreign,  of  throwing  in  stones  to  hear  them  strike 
the  bottom,  had  been  steadily  going  on.  We  are 
glad  to  say  this  practice  has  been  stopped  by  the 
present  guardians  of  the  well.  We  hope  the  well 
may  ere  long  be  cleaned  out  to  the  bottom.  It  was 
undoubtedly  sunk  to  so  great  a  depth  for  the  purpose 
of  securing,  even  in  exceptionally  dry  seasons,  a 
good  supply  of  water. 


CHAPTER  XL 

Joseph's  tomb  and  southward  to  shiloh. 

fy  ust  a  little  distance  away,  as  we  have  said,  and 
%J  in  full  view  from  Jacob's  Well,  is  another  relic  of 
the  past  almost  as  interesting,  namely  Joseph's  Tomb. 
It  is  on  a  slight  elevation  between  Jacob's  Well  and 
Sychar,  almost  in  the  middle  of  the  mouth  of  the 
valley,  between  the  mountains  of  Ebal  and  Gerazim. 
It  is  a  small,  square,  white  building  constructed  of 
brick  and  plaster,  and  beyond  a  doubt  marks  the 
site  of  the  ancient  sepulchre.  The  location  accords 
exactly  with  the  Bible  narrative  and  has  for  many 
centuries  been  held  in  reverence  by  Jews,  Samaritans, 
Moslems  and  Christians. 

When  Joseph  was  about  to  die,  amid  all  the 
splendor  of  the  Egyptian  court,  his  thoughts  went 
back  to  the  scenes  of  his  boyhood  and  to  the  plot  of 
ground  his  father  had  given  him  as  a  token  of 
parental  love.  And  desiring  to  be  buried  where  his 
childhood  days  had  been  spent,  and  in  faith  that  God 
would  bring  his  people  safely  back,  he  took  an  oath 
of  his  brethren  that  when  God  should  restore  them 
to  the  land  of  their  fathers,  they  would  carry  up  his 


JOSEPH'S  TOMB  AND  SHILOH       117 

bones  with  them.  The  pledge  was  remembered,  and 
when  the  exodus  took  place,  his  embalmed  body  was 
taken  by  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt  and  laid  to  rest  in  this  same  historic  parcel 
of  ground.  Here,  after  the  longest  funeral  pro- 
cession history  has  ever  recorded,  were  laid  to  rest 
the  mortal  remains  of  him  who  preferred  an  Egyp- 
tian prison  to  the  pleasures  of  dishonor,  and  whom 
God  advanced  from  the  dungeon  to  the  first  place 
of  power  beside  a  Pharaoh  on  his  throne. 

The  building  as  it  stands  to-day  is  composed  of 
two  apartments,  the  northern  being  a  rounded  vesti- 
bule, and  the  southern  a  roofless  enclosure  about 
twenty-five  feet  square,  surrounded  by  a  wall  ten 
feet  high.  The  tomb  is  in  this  latter  enclosure  and 
is  constructed  in  the  usual  style  of  Mohammedan 
graves.  It  is  about  seven  feet  long,  four  feet  wide 
at  the  base,  and  is  raised  in  the  shape  of  a  grave- 
mound  about  three  feet  in  height  in  the  middle.  At 
the  head  and  foot  are  two  pillars  of  black  granite, 
each  with  an  urn  on  top  filled  with  ashes,  the  re- 
mains of  votive  offerings  which  the  Jews  burn  from 
time  to  time.  Small  earthen  lamps  with  oil  in  them 
are  also  deposited  by  devotees  in  an  opening  in  one 
end  of  the  tomb.  The  wall  around  it  is  a  recon- 
struction made  in  1868  by  a  Mr.  Rogers,  who  was 
the  British  counsel  at  Damascus,  and  this  fact  is 
stated  on  a  marble  slab  let  into  the  wall. 


n8    THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

As  we  have  said,  the  probability  that  this  is  the 
real  resting  place  of  the  bones  of  Joseph  is  very- 
great.  His  mummy,  when  brought  up  out  of  Egypt 
by  Joshua,  was  buried  in  the  "parcel  of  ground 
which  Jacob  bought  of  the  sons  of  Hamor,  the 
father  of  Shechem,  for  one  hundred  pieces  of  silver," 
and  there  is  practically  no  doubt  that  this  is  that 
parcel  of  ground.  To  be  sure,  the  tomb  is  of 
Mohammedan  structure  and  comparatively  modern ; 
but  the  long  period  of  time  that  has  elapsed  has  made 
many  reconstructions  of  the  original  tomb  necessary, 
and  this  may  be  but  the  last  of  the  series.  The  fact 
that  it  is  not  made  to  point  toward  Mecca  is  in  strong 
opposition  to  any  theory  that  it  could  be  an  invention 
of  the  Moslems.  But  for  the  superstition  of  the 
Mohammedans,  who  would  resent  with  the  utmost 
violence  any  attempt  at  excavations  into  the  tomb, 
the  question  whether  Joseph's  mummy,  or  any  part 
of  it,  is  to  be  found  there,  could  be  settled  in  a  few 
hours.  Doubtless  the  day  is  coming  when  this  will 
be  done.  It  is  not  impossible  that  men  may  yet  gaze 
upon  the  actual  body  of  Joseph,  here,  and  at  Hebron, 
in  a  fully  as  jealously  guarded  grave,  upon  the  face 
of  his  father  Jacob.  There  is  almost  no  limit  to 
the  wonders  the  jealously  guarded  sites  of  the  Holy 
Land  may  yet  reveal  to  the  explorer,  the  excavator, 
and  the  student  of  Biblical  Archeology. 

From  Jacob's  Well  and  Joseph's  Tomb  our  way 


JOSEPH'S  TOMB  AND  SHILOH      119 

lay  directly  south.  Shortly  after  leaving  this  general 
vicinity  we  passed  by  the  village  of  Awerta.  It  is 
on  a  little  knoll  in  the  middle  of  the  Plain  of  Moreh, 
about  three  miles  south  of  Jacob's  Well.  Here  were 
pointed  out  to  us  the  reputed  tombs  of  Eleazer  and 
Phinehas,  father  and  son,  who  were  priests  in  the 
time  of  Joshua.  Eleazer  was  son  and  Phinehas  the 
grandson  of  Aaron.  The  account  of  Eleazer's  burial 
is  given  in  the  book  of  Joshua :  "And  Eleazer,  the 
son  of  Aaron  died;  and  they  buried  him  in  a  hill 
that  pertained  to  Phinehas  his  son,  which  was  given 
him  in  Mount  Ephraim." 

The  tomb  of  Phinehas,  which  is  a  place  of  great 
resort  to  both  Jews  and  Samaritans,  stands  in  the 
centre  of  the  village,  enclosed  in  a  little  area  or  com- 
pound, with  a  small  mosque  near  by.  The  tomb 
of  Eleazer  is  just  outside  the  village  on  a  rise  of 
ground.  It  is  in  a  large  enclosure  which  contains 
also  a  cave  ascribed  to  Elijah.  The  grave  is  over- 
shadowed by  two  very  large  terebinth  trees,  and  is 
in  a  retired  and  truly  beautiful  location. 

Going  down  the  full  length  of  the  Plain  of  Moreh, 
or  Plain  of  Mukhnah,  which  is  one  of  the  most 
beautiful,  fertile  and  well-cultivated  plains  in  Pales- 
tine, we  by  and  by  began  to  ascend  by  one  of  the 
narrowest,  roughest  and  most  dangerous  roads  we 
had  to  traverse  in  all  our  journeyings.  From  the 
top  of  the  mountains  at  the  southern  extremity  of 


120    THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

the  valley  we  had  one  of  the  best  views  we  had  en- 
joyed. We  could  see  snow-capped  Hermon  in  the 
far  north,  the  mountains  of  Moab,  east  of  the 
Jordan,  the  Mediterranean  on  the  west,  and  far 
beyond  Jerusalem  to  the  south.  We  crossed  the 
ridge  and  descended  by  an  even  worse  path  down 
the  other  side.  We  all  had  to  dismount  and  walk 
for  fear  of  being  thrown  over  the  ledges  to  our 
death. 

Passing  along  through  the  next  valley,  called 
Wady  Aly,  we  soon  passed  El  Lubban,  which  is  the 
Lebonah  of  the  Old  Testament  mentioned  in  Judges 
21  :  19,  in  connection  with  Shiloh  and  the  unique 
method  the  sons  of  Benjamin  once  used  for  secur- 
ing wives,  each  catching  one  of  the  daughters  of 
Shiloh  as  the  women  came  out  to  dance.  About 
five  minutes  further  on  we  came  to  the  ancient  Khan 
El  Lubban  where  there  is  a  good  spring  and  near 
by  which  we  rested  for  two  hours  and  had  our  mid- 
day lunch. 

After  the  noon  rest  we  resumed  our  journey  going 
almost  due  east  to  Shiloh,  or  as  it  is  now  called, 
Seilum.  How  our  hearts  stirred  within  us  as  we 
rode  along  the  barren  rocky  ledge  to  the  ruins ! 
The  place  is  in  utter  desolation,  or  nearly  so.  The 
ruins  of  what  must  have  been  an  old  Crusader 
church  is  on  the  very  summit  of  the  hill.  Several 
pillars  and  a  stone  with  a  pot  of  manna  engraved 


JOSEPH'S  TOMB  AND  SHILOH       121 

upon  it  yet  remain  to  tell  of  its  former  greatness. 
As  we  looked  upon  the  scene  in  the  sunset  glow  we 
seemed  to  hear  the  voice  of  the  stern  old  prophet 
Jeremiah  saying:  "But  go  ye  now  to  my  place 
which  was  in  Shiloh,  where  I  set  my  name  at  the 
first,  and  see  what  I  did  to  it  for  the  wickedness  of 
my  people  Israel." 

Shiloh  is  five  miles  north  of  Bethel  and  seventeen 
miles  from  Jerusalem.  It  was  here  that  the  taber- 
nacle of  the  Lord,  with  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  was 
placed  after  the  conquest  of  Canaan,  and  here  re- 
mained until  after  the  end  of  the  government  of  the 
Judges.  It  is  said  of  Shiloh,  Judges  21 :  19,  that  it 
was  "in  a  place  which  is  on  the  north  side  of  Bethel, 
on  the  east  side  of  the  highway  that  goeth  up  from 
Bethel  to  Shechem,  and  on  the  south  side  of 
Lebonah."  This  is  rather  a  vague  description,  but 
it  answers  in  every  particular  to  the  present  site  as 
pointed  out. 

For  many  centuries  Shiloh  was  the  center  of  the 
Jewish  national  and  religious  life.  The  people 
gathered  here  just  as  they  afterwards  did  to  Jerusa- 
lem. Here,  in  honor  of  the  Lord,  a  festival  was 
annually  celebrated  on  which  occasion  religious 
dances  were  performed  by  the  daughters  of  Shiloh, 
on  one  of  which  occasions  the  sons  of  Benjamin 
secured  themselves  wives  in  the  way  we  mentioned. 
This  too  was  the  residence  of  Eli,  who  judged 

16 


122     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

Israel  here  for  nearly  forty  years,  and,  when  nearly 
ninety  years  old  fell  dead  when  he  heard  of  the  ark 
of  God  being  taken  and  of  the  death  of  his  two  sons, 
Hophni  and  Phinehas.  While  here  we  could  not 
but  think  of  this  pathetic  and  touching  incident, 
and  also  of  Hannah,  the  mother  of  Samuel — how 
she  consecrated  her  child  from  his  birth,  of  her  song 
of  thanksgiving  for  the  gift  of  a  son,  how  she 
brought  the  child  Samuel  here  and  left  him  with 
Eli,  and  how  he  ministered  before  the  Lord  when 
only  a  child,  girded  with  a  linen  ephod,  how  the 
word  of  the  Lord  came  to  him  when  he  was  laid 
down  to  sleep  even  before  he  knew  it  was  the  voice 
of  the  Lord,  and  how  touchingly  he  replied  when 
he  knew  who  it  was  that  called  him.  What  a  beauti- 
ful lesson  the  blameless  life  of  the  prophet  Samuel 
furnishes  us  of  the  value  of  early  piety  and  conse- 
cration. And  what  a  touching  picture  of  motherly 
love  and  devotion  we  have  in  the  life  of  Hannah. 
Samuel  had  a  noble  mother,  and  Hannah  had  a 
son  in  every  way  worthy  of  her  sacrifice  and  self- 
denial.  Oh,  that  our  own  beloved  land  were  filled 
with  Hannahs,  for  then  would  we  have  more 
Samuels. 

One  of  the  ruins,  lying  a  little  distance  from  the 
road,  is  called  Jami  El  Arbain,  or  The  Forty  Com- 
panions of  the  Prophet.  The  edifice  was  erected  at 
various  periods.     The  lintel  of  the  portal,  at  the 


'JOSEPH'S  TOMB  AND  SHILOH      123 

north,  is  formed  of  a  monolith  with  beautiful  an- 
tique sculptures.  The  main  building  was  only  about 
thirty-three  feet  square.  The  roof  was  supported 
by  four  columns.  During  a  restoration  vaults  were 
built  and  the  side  walls  buttressed.  A  small  mosque 
has  been  added  on  the  east  side.  The  road  from 
the  village  leads  past  a  large  pond  partially  hewn  out 
of  the  rock.  In  the  hillside  are  rock-tombs.  On  the 
south  side  of  the  hill,  quite  a  little  below  the  summit, 
is  a  small  flat-topped  building,  with  a  flight  of  out- 
side steps  ascending  to  the  roof.  It  is  called  the 
mosque  Jami  El  Yetem.  It  is  said  to  have  been 
used  formerly  as  a  chapel,  and  also  as  a  synagogue, 
though  it  is  rather  small  for  either,  being  only  thirty- 
seven  feet  square.  A  magnificent  oak  overtops  it. 
The  interior  of  the  mosque  is  vaulted  and  supported 
by  two  columns. 

But  that  which  to  many  minds  gives  the  chief 
interest  to  the  locality  is  a  space  artificially  leveled 
on  the  northern  brow  of  the  eminence,  just  back 
of  the  ruins  of  the  village,  on  which  it  is  believed  the 
tabernacle  stood  during  its  long  continuance  in 
Shiloh.  The  space  is  four  hundred  feet  long  from 
east  to  west,  as  far  as  the  width  of  the  hill  will 
allow,  and  seventy-seven  feet  wide.  It  is  made  by 
cutting  down  the  rock  along  the  swell  of  the  hill  to 
the  level  of  the  two  ends  of  the  area.  In  doing  this 
the  natural  rock  was  left  from  two  to  six  feet  high 


124     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

on  each  side  for  quite  a  distance,  but  further  on  the 
upper  side  than  the  lower.  It  is  entirely  certain  that 
this  cutting  was  made  in  order  to  secure  a  level 
place  for  some  purpose,  and  the  dimensions  of  the 
space,  just  two  feet  wider  than  the  tabernacle  court, 
and  long  enough  to  leave  a  level  space  in  front  for 
the  assembling  of  worshipers  and  sacrificial  victims 
is  thought  to  indicate  unmistakably  that  it  wTas  in- 
tended to  accommodate  the  tabernacle.  One  thing 
is  sure,  that  there  is  no  other  spot  identified  on  which 
the  tabernacle  could  have  stood.  There  is  the  added 
fact  that  this  place  is  exactly  the  right  size.  That 
any  such  place  could  be  recognized  at  all  after  a 
lapse  of  over  three  thousand  years  is  certainly  very 
remarkable;  but  this  is  due  to  the  fact  that  it  is 
cut  in  the  solid  rock  of  the  hill's  very  top,  where 
no  earth  could  collect  upon  it  to  conceal  it,  and 
where  no  buildings  were  afterwards  placed  to  cause 
it  to  be  covered  with  ruins. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

FROM  SHILOH  TO  BETHEL. 

Hfter  our  stay  at  Shiloh,  in  the  cool  of  the 
evening  we  made  the  short  journey  of  two 
miles  to  Turmus  Aya,  where  we  camped  for  the 
night,  our  last  night  out  from  Jerusalem.  Two 
photographers  of  Jerusalem  having  heard  of  our 
coming,  seemed  to  think  the  matter  of  sufficient  im- 
portance to  come  out  the  twenty  miles  or  more  to 
take  photographs  of  our  party  and  camp,  and  the 
quarrel  between  them  was  quite  bitter  as  to  which 
should  have  the  exclusive  privilege,  which  seemed 
to  be  in  the  hands  of  our  chief  dragoman. 

Our  camp  was  very  near  the  small  village,  which 
occupies  a  knoll  rising  from  the  level  valley.  We 
visited  the  shekh  of  the  village  and  also  had  the 
privilege  of  entering  several  homes.  This  was  only 
a  privilege  because  it  afforded  opportunity  to  see 
how  the  people  live;  for  their  thick-walled  stone- 
and-mud  houses  seem  inside  more  like  low  caves  or 
holes  in  the  ground.  In  a  little  oven-shaped  cave 
at  the  side  of  the  doorway  of  each  house  we  saw 
little  piles  of  fuel,  dried  grass  and  twigs,  and  what 


126     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

is  more  common,  sun  dried  cakes  of  manure.  As 
is  a  common  practice  in  all  Palestine,  and  which  we 
saw  everywhere,  the  women  gather  the  manure  from 
field  or  stable  and  form  it  into  cakes  and  place  these 
on  the  roofs  of  the  houses  to  dry.  When  hard  and 
dry  the  cakes  are  stored  in  the  houses,  as  is  some- 
times the  case,  or  more  often  in  an  oven-like  shelter 
near  the  doorway.  Bear  in  mind,  the  people  in 
Palestine  keep  practically  everything  they  own  in 
their  homes  or  in  an  enclosure  about  them,  where 
they  are  always  under  their  eyes.  And  they  have 
good  reason  to  do  so,  for  they  well  know  if  they 
did  otherwise  not  one  of  their  possessions  would 
escape  being  stolen.  The  little  bag  of  barley  or 
wheat  is  kept  carefully  in  an  inside  corner,  near  by 
which  we  saw  in  several  houses  the  little  stone  mills 
at  which  two  women  grind  the  grain.  These  mills, 
just  as  in  Bible  times,  are  each  formed  of  two  flat 
round  stones  which  rub  on  one  another.  A  wooden 
peg  is  inserted  in  a  hole  in  one  edge  of  the  upper 
stone,  and  one  woman  with  it  as  a  handle  pushes 
the  stone  half  way  round  and  then  the  other  makes 
it  complete  the  circle,  and  this  slow  and  laborious 
process  is  kept  up  until  enough  grain  for  a  meal  or 
two  is  ground.  The  bread  is  usually  baked  on 
hot  coals  in  an  oven,  the  loaves  being  in  reality  flat 
cakes  quite  thin  and  about  six  inches  in  diameter. 
The  poorer  peasants  never  think  of  such  a  thing  as 


FROM  SHILOH  TO  BETHEL        127 

sitting  down  to  a  table  and  the  family  eating  the 
meal  together.  You  will  see  them  going  out  to  the 
fields  to  work  in  the  early  morning,  with  an  earthen 
bottle  of  water  on  their  backs  or  tied  to  the  harness 
of  the  donkey,  and  a  cake  of  bread  in  their  hands, 
eating  their  breakfast  as  they  go.  At  noon  they  sit 
down  flat  in  the  furrow  or  field  and  have  their 
dinner  in  the  same  way,  while  the  donkey  or  ox,  or 
both,  seem  mostly  to  browse  among  the  stubble  for 
a  living,  though  we  believe  they  do  sometimes  give 
them  some  grain.  The  peasants  as  we  see  them  in 
the  country  districts  universally,  men,  women  and 
children,  go  bare-footed  and  bare-legged,  and  their 
wardrobe  is  of  the  scantiest  possible  in  keeping 
with  their  being  presentable  at  all. 

After  a  good  supper  and  a  good  night's  rest,  we 
broke  camp  for  the  last  time  in  the  morning.  It  was 
not  without  some  feeling  of  regret.  We  had  had 
not  a  drop  of  rain  during  the  whole  journey,  and 
though  the  roads — we  call  them  roads,  but  they  were 
in  reality  like  cow  paths  among  the  rocks — were 
rough,  yet  the  ground  everywhere  had  been  bedecked 
with  flowers,  the  air  had  been  clear,  our  horses  had 
proven  enduring  and  generally  reliable,  and  all  our 
dragomen  and  attendants  honest,  obliging  and  faith- 
ful, and  we  had  been  passing  through  a  land  that 
every  step  of  the  way  had  been  laden  with  wonderful 
memories  and  most  sacred  associations.    The  whole 


128     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

experience  had  been  somewhat  like  such  a  season  of 
spiritual  exaltation,  or  such  mountain-top  vision  as 
blesses  a  Christian  only  once  or  at  best  only  a  few 
times  in  life.  Besides  our  associations  with  one 
another  had  been  very  delightful.  All  in  the  party, 
we  believe,  were  Christians,  and  we  had  had  songs 
and  services  and  testimonies  together.  Now  we 
were  about  to  break  up  the  party  and  be  merged  and 
somewhat  lost  in  the  larger  associations  of  the  over 
eight  hundred  members  of  the  cruise. 

But  a  new  feeling  was  beginning  to  take  hold  of 
us  all.  We  were  approaching  Jerusalem !  To-day 
we  shall  see  the  Holy  City!  It  is  hard  to  describe 
the  feelings  and  the  enthusiasm  for  pressing  rapidly 
forward  that  came  to  all,  awakened  by  this  thought. 

Early  in  the  morning  we  were  on  our  way.  But 
there  were  interesting  places  yet  to  visit  along  the 
route,  and  many  others  almost  as  interesting  to  come 
under  the  field  of  our  vision.  The  first  was  Bethel. 
What  a  privilege  to  be  there!  The  very  name 
means  the  house  of  God,  and  how  full  it  is  of 
patriarchal  memories !  It  is  the  spot  where  Abraham, 
when  a  wanderer  "journeying  toward  the  south," 
"pitched  his  tent,"  and  "builded  an  altar  unto  the 
Lord,"  (Gen.  12:8),  and  to  which  Jacob,  a  lonely, 
weary  fugitive  from  his  brother  Esau's  wrath,  came 
and  laid  down  to  sleep.  There  in  that  nameless 
spot,   on   shelterless   couch,    and   with   comfortless 


FROM  SHILOH  TO  BETHEL         129 

pillow  he  slept  a  restless  slumber.  -  While  he  slept 
his  heart  was  awake,  for  he  dreamed.  He  dreamed 
of  his  own  sins  and  of  a  way  back  into  communion 
with  God.  For  this  is  the  meaning  of  the  ladder 
symbol.  It  is  the  Gospel  in  the  Old  Testament  tell- 
ing of  a  way  of  communication  between  heaven  and 
earth,  with  the  thoughts  of  man  ascending  up  to 
God  and  the  angels  of  God's  mercy  and  love 
descending  with  messages  and  all  spiritual  and  other 
blessings  for  him. 

It  may  be  easy  to  make  light  of  these  sacred 
associations  and  especially  when  we  see  such  hal- 
lowed places  desecrated  by  a  wretched  village  and 
a  miserable  population.  But  to  a  devout  mind 
whose  thoughts  are  far  away  on  times  long  gone, 
there  is  inspiration  in  the  thought  that  this  very 
ground  has  been  touched  by  angels'  feet,  and  that 
here  the  hardy  patriarch  chose  one  of  the  stones,  like 
the  many  that  lie  about  our  feet,  and,  resting  his 
head  upon  it,  fell  asleep  and  to  his  closed  eyes  but 
waking  soul  there  came  that  heavenly  vision. 

We  are  sure  that  there  was  not  one  in  all  our  party 
who  did  not  in  some  degree  share  in  the  blessings 
of  that  vision  of  Jacob's,  as  we  were  permitted  to 
visit  a  place  where  heaven  had  come  so  near  to 
earth;  and  the  reader  will  not  be  surprised  that  we 
fell  into  the  mood  of  Mrs.  Sarah  Flower  Adams' 
ever  precious  hymn  and  without  a  word  of  sug- 
17 


130     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

gestion  sang  together  "Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee." 
Who  can  say  that  Jacob's  vision  did  not  become  ours 
as  Ave  softly  chanted  the  words, 

"Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee, 

Nearer  to  Thee ! 
E'en  though  it  be  a  cross 

That  raiseth  me; 
Still   all   my  song  shall  be, 
Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee, 

Nearer   to   Thee ! 

Though  like  a  wanderer, 

The  sun  gone  down, 
Darkness  be  over  me, 

My  rest  a  stone; 
Yet  in  my  dreams  I'd  be 
Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee, 

Nearer    to    Thee ! 

There  let  the  way  appear, 

Steps  unto  heaven : 
All  that  Thou  sendest  me, 

In  mercy  given ; 
Angels  to  beckon  me 
Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee, 

Nearer   to   Thee ! 

Then,  with  my  waking  thoughts 

Bright  with  Thy  praise, 
Out  of  my  stony  griefs 

Bethel  I'll  raise; 
So  by  my  woes  to  be 
Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee, 

Nearer  to   Thee !" 

We  doubt  not  that  this  hymn  is  sung  by  nearly 
every  caravan  of  pilgrims  from  Christian  lands  when 
in  making  the  tour  of  Palestine  they  camp  at  Bethel. 

Is  it  not  a  sweet  immortality  for  this  Christian 


FROM  SHILOH  TO  BETHEL         131 

poetess  that  her  song  should  thus  linger  about  the 
Holy  Land,  the  stories  of  which  were  so  dear  to  her, 
and  continue  to  interpret  the  worshipful  thoughts  of 
Christian  travellers  long  after  she  had  ceased  to 
sing  on  earth? 

We  do  not  wonder  that  our  martyred  president, 
and  so  many  before  him  and  since,  loved  and  do  love 
this  beautiful  hymn.  But  we  shall  ever  count  it  a 
high  privilege  that  so  many  of  us  were  permitted  to 
sing  it  together  there  on  the  sacred  site  of  Bethel 
itself. 

Bethel,  or  rather  the  ruins  of  it,  stands  on  the 
summit  of  a  rocky  ledge,  nearly  twelve  miles  north 
of  Jerusalem.  On  our  way  from  Turmus  Aya  we 
had  passed  in  sight  of  the  village  of  Sinjil  which 
received  its  name  from  Count  Raymond  of  Toulouse, 
during  the  first  Crusade,  and  also,  a  short  distance 
further  south,  that  famous  location  known  as  the 
Robber's  Fountain.  This  is  a  cool  and  inviting 
retreat  in  the  valley.  From  the  base  of  a  perpen- 
dicular ledge  there  issues  several  small  perennial 
springs  of  good  water,  and  on  a  smooth  plot  of 
ground  between  the  cliff  and  the  torrent-bed  which 
drains  the  valley  is  the  much  frequented  camping 
place  known  by  the  not  very  inviting  title,  the  Rob- 
ber's Fountain.  It  is  the  half-way  station  for  pil- 
grims between  Jerusalem  and  Shechem.  Near  by 
are  several  caves  that  would  afford  convenient  hid- 


132     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

ing  places  for  those  with  evil  designs,  and  the  place 
evidently  derived  its  name  from  tradition  connect- 
ing it  with  the  depredations  of  robbers.  Modern 
guides  and  dragomen  take  advantage  of  this  to 
regale  their  companies  of  tourists  with  tales  of 
adventure  and  hair-breadth  escapes.  It  is  one  of  the 
wildest  and  most  picturesque  spots  along  the  way, 
with  vines  and  ferns  clinging  to  the  precipitous  sides 
of  the  hills  which  enclose  it,  while  the  shadows  which 
fall  upon  the  narrow  space  between  are  very  grateful 
to  the  traveller  who  has  reached  it  through  long 
stretches  of  exposure  to  the  Syrian  sun.  But  we 
refuse  to  believe  that  there  is  any  evil  omen  con- 
nected with  the  place  or  that  those  who  camp  there 
are  any  less  safe  than  in  other  parts  of  Palestine. 

In  plain  sight  on  the  left,  as  one  is  facing  south, 
is  the  high  bare  mountain,  so  prominent  in  Bible 
history,  especially  as  a  land-mark,  known  as  Tell 
Asur,  but  in  Bible  times  as  Baal  Hazor.  It  rises 
to  an  elevation  of  nearly  four  thousand  feet,  its 
southern  base  being  the  boundary  line,  as  first  estab- 
lished, between  Ephraim  and  Benjamin.  Its  associa- 
tions seem  mostly  to  have  been  with  Baal  and  his 
worship,  though  on  the  slope  of  it,  as  we  are  told 
in  Second  Samuel,  thirteenth  chapter,  Absalom  had 
a  sheep  farm  to  which  his  brother  Amnon  was 
treacherously  decoyed  and  where  he  was  put  to 
death. 


FROM  SHILOH  TO  BETHEL        133 

But  we  were  describing  Bethel.  The  place  is  now 
known  as  Beitin,  and  consists  of  a  collection  of 
miserable  hovels  occupying  a  southern  slope  near  the 
summit  of  a  very  rocky  hill.  The  present  inhabitants 
are  estimated  at  about  four  hundred,  and  they  dwell 
in  poor  houses  mostly  built  of  material  from  the 
ruins  of  ancient  and  much  better  buildings.  We 
were  besieged  here  by  beggars  of  the  worst  type. 
From  the  roof  of  the  sheik's  house  we  had  a  very 
extensive  view,  the  outlines  of  Jerusalem  and  the 
buildings  on  the  Mount  of  Olives  being  in  plain  sight. 
To  the  northwest  we  visited  the  ruins  of  a  Crusaders' 
church,  and  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  a  remarkable  reser- 
voir. It  is  now  dry,  but  has  a  fine  spring  at  one  side 
enclosed  in  a  circular  basin.  The  reservoir,  or  arti- 
ficial pond,  is  three  hundred  and  fifteen  feet  long 
and  two  hundred  and  sixteen  feet  wide.  The 
southern  and  eastern  walls  are  still  standing,  the 
pool  being  partly  cut  in  the  solid  rock  and  with 
the  rock  bottom  exposed  in  a  part  of  its  area.  The 
reservoir  was  evidently  about  twelve  feet  deep,  and 
was  certainly  capable  of  containing  an  immense 
quantity  of  water. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

FROM   BETHEL  TO  JERUSALEM. 

jpROM  bethel  we  came,  about  a  half  an  hour's 
JJ  ride  further  south,  to  El  Bireh,  the  site  of  the 
ancient  city  of  Beeroth.  The  name  means  the  place 
of  wells.  There  are  several  fine  springs  here,  and 
for  this  reason  it  is  a  favorite  halting  place  for 
caravans.  The  place  contains  about  one  thousand 
inhabitants,  and  has  near  by  some  interesting  reser- 
voirs and  in  the  north  part  of  the  village  a  tower 
partly  constructed  of  ancient  materials.  But  espe- 
cially interesting  are  the  remains  of  an  ancient  Chris- 
tian church  and  of  a  kahn  or  hospice,  which  tra- 
dition has  connected  with  the  first  visit  of  the  child 
Jesus  to  Jerusalem.  This  is  the  place,  according  to 
very  ancient  tradition,  where  Joseph  and  Mary, 
returning  to  Nazareth  from  Jerusalem,  first  dis- 
covered that  Jesus  was  not  in  the  company,  and 
returned  to  the  city,  where,  after  much  searching, 
they  found  him  in  the  temple  "sitting  in  the  midst 
of  the  doctors." 

Only  a  little  over  a  mile  west  of  Beeroth  is  the 
very    interesting    Christian    village    of    Ramallah, 


FROM  BETHEL  TO  JERUSALEM     135 

where  are  some  excellent  missions  conducted  by 
the  English  church,  by  the  American  Quakers, — the 
branch  known  as  the  New  England  Meeting  of 
Friends — and  by  the  Roman  Catholics.  There  is  a 
flourishing  Protestant  school  here  and  also  schools 
conducted  by  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches.  One 
of  the  Protestant  missionaries  came  over  and  took 
lunch  with  us  and  urged  us  very  strongly  to  visit 
his  station;  but  we  were  hot  and  tired,  besides  the 
fever  for  Jerusalem  was  upon  us  and  we  felt  we 
could  not  delay. 

Beeroth  is  just  ten  miles  from  Jerusalem,  and  a 
good  new  carriage  road  now  reaches  out  thus  far. 
Many  being  weary  with  their  long  ride  on  horseback 
and  preferring  to  take  it  easier  the  balance  of  the 
journey  had  ordered  carriages  to  meet  them  here. 
Some  in  carriages  and  others  on  horseback,  after  the 
mid-day  lunch,  we  took  up  the  last  short  stage  of 
the  journey — ten  miles  to  Jerusalem.  Many  points 
of  interest  along  the  way  were  in  sight  on  either  side. 
This  entire  hill  country  of  Benjamin,  through  which 
we  were  passing,  though  extremely  dry  and  rocky, 
is  thickly  set  with  villages,  and  the  soil  on  the 
hillsides  and  in  the  valleys  is  rich  and  pro- 
ductive, the  villagers  finding  a  good  market  for  all 
they  can  raise  in  Jerusalem.  We  passed  in  sight  of 
Khirbet  El  Atara,  a  ruined  village  with  two  old 
ponds  and  some  tombs,  the  Ataroth  Adar  of  Joshua's 


136     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

time.  Not  far  away  was  Michmash  on  the  left,  with 
Geba  a  little  way  across  a  narrow  valley,  to  the 
south.  These  places  are  familiar  to  every  Bible 
student,  the  former  as  the  camping  place  of  Saul's 
army  and  the  latter  as  the  garrison  of  the  Philistines. 
Just  below,  in  the  narrowest  part  of  the  village,  are 
the  two  rocks,  Seneh  and  Bozeh,  made  famous  by 
the  exploit  of  Jonathan  and  his  armor-bearer.  1 
Samuel  14:4,5.  Off  on  the  opposite  side  of  our 
way,  to  the  right,  lay  Gibeah  of  Saul,  his  birthplace, 
home  and  the  seat  of  his  government  during  most 
of  his  reign,  as  also  the  scene  of  the  pathetic  story 
of  Rizpah's  maternal  love  and  lonely  watch  over 
her  dead  sons.  It  is  on  an  elevation  higher  than 
Jerusalem  overlooking  the  country  for  miles  around. 
It  is  easy  to  understand  why  Saul  chose  it  for  his 
residence  and  his  court.  A  little  further  to  the  east, 
on  another  hill,  less  than  a  mile  from  Gibeah.  is 
Anathoth.  the  birthplace  of  the  prophet  Jeremiah,  a 
priestly  city  and  dwelling  place  of  prophets.  Still 
nearer  to  us,  we  soon  passed  on  our  left  the  little 
village  of  El  Ram,  or  Ramah,  the  high  place  of 
Benjamin  so  often  mentioned  in  connection  with  the 
history  of  Samuel  and  the  Kings.  Off  to  the  west 
we  could  see,  the  most  conspicuous  elevation  on  the 
plateau  northwest  of  Jerusalem,  Neby  Samwil,  the 
probable  site  of  Mizpeh.  Its  modern  name,  Neby 
Samwil,  means  the  tomb  of  Samuel.    It  was  given  to 


FROM  BETHEL  TO  JERUSALEM     137 

it  by  the  natives  on  the  basis  of  a  very  ancient  tra- 
dition which  names  this  peak  as  the  burial  place 
of  the  prophet  Samuel.  To  Mizpeh  the  people  of 
Israel  were  assembled  to  take  counsel  together  con- 
cerning the  rebellion  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  on 
another  occasion  to  offer  sacrifices  and  seek  deliver- 
ance from  the  Philistines,  and  again,  to  ratify  the 
selection  of  Saul  as  their  first  king.  It  was  one  of 
the  points,  also,  where  Samuel  regularly  judged 
Israel. 

The  last  village  we  passed  was  Shafat,  about  two 
miles  from  Jerusalem.  This  is  thought  by  many  to 
be  the  Nob  of  the  Old  Testament,  which  was  a  Levit- 
ical  city  in  Benjamin  and  one  of  the  places  where 
the  tabernacle  or  ark  of  Jehovah  was  kept  for  a  time 
during  the  days  of  its  wanderings  before  a  home 
was  provided  for  it  on  Mount  Zion.  But  the  event 
for  which  Nob  was  most  noted  in  the  Scripture 
annals  was  a  frightful  massacre  which  occurred  in 
the  time  of  Saul.  When  David  was  fleeing  from 
the  wrath  of  the  jealous  Saul  he  came  here,  and, 
being  ahungered,  on  meeting  Ahimelech  the  priest 
he  demanded  food.  It  was  then  that  the  consecrated 
shew  bread  was  given  him,  referred  to  by  Christ  in 
the  twelfth  chapter  of  Matthew.  The  sword  of 
Goliath,  which  had  been  kept  as  a  trophy  here,  was 
also  given  to  David,  who  took  it  with  him.  The 
jealous  Saul  was  fearfully  enraged  when  he  heard 
18 


1 38     THE  LAND  WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

that  such  favors  had  been  shown  to  a  man  he  hated 
as  a  rival,  and  nothing  would  appease  him  but  the 
indiscriminate  slaughter  of  all  the  inhabitants  of 
Nob.  When  the  "king's  executioners  refused  to 
perform  the  bloody  deed  he  turned  to  Doeg,  the 
spy,  who  had  betrayed  the  unsuspecting  Ahimelech, 
and  said:  "Turn  thou  and  fall  upon  the  priests." 
The  record  goes  on  to  say,  "And  Doeg,  the  Edomite, 
turned,  and  he  fell  upon  the  priests,  and  slew  on 
that  day  fourscore  and  five  persons  that  did  wear 
the  linen  ephod.  And  Nob,  the  city  of  the  priests, 
smote  he  with  the  edge  of  the  sword,  both  men  and 
women,  children  and  sucklings,  and  oxen,  and  asses, 
and  sheep,  with  the  edge  of  the  sword."  Abiathar, 
a  son  of  Ahimelech,  was  the  only  one  who  escaped 
to  tell  the  sad  story.  It  seems  that  the  city  never 
again  regained  its  ancient  importance. 

This,  as  we  have  said,  was  the  last  place  we  passed. 
We  were  now  rapidly  nearing  the  city  of  our  dreams, 
Jerusalem.  But  what  we  wish  we  could  make  real 
to  our  readers  is  the  sense  of  excitement  that  had 
taken  hold  of  all  in  our  large  party.  Though  the 
city  was  not  yet  in  sight  we  began  to  feel  that  we 
were  drawing  very  near  to  it — the  city  of  our  hopes, 
the  climax  of  our  expectations,  the  Holy  City,  Jerusa- 
lem! Even  the  horses  seemed  to  catch  this  spirit 
and  pranced  and  neighed,  and  sometimes  became 
almost  unmanageable.     Our  own  sure-footed  animal 


FROM  BETHEL  TO  JERUSALEM     139 

which  had  not  stumbled  even  once  in  the  roughest 
places,  in  the  excitement  of  the  rush  tripped  and  fell 
at  full  length  on  the  road  and  his  rider  barely  es- 
caped being  under  him.  But  soon  the  cavalcade 
reached  the  summit  of  Mount  Scopas,  when  the 
whole  city  and  its  surroundings  burst  upon  us  in  an 
instant.  It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  feelings 
that  took  possession  of  us.  Though  more  quiet  and 
subdued,  still  we  can  compare  it  only  with  the  in- 
tense excitement  of  the  old  crusading  army  that 
came  over  this  same  road  and  approached  the  city 
from  the  north.  It  is  said  though  thinned  by 
pestilence,  privation  and  service  on  many  a  battle 
field,  that  when  the  Crusaders  first  gazed  upon  the 
city  from  this  point,  the  warrior  host  knelt  down 
as  a  single  man,  sobs  bursting  from  their  mailed 
bosoms  and  tears  streaming  down  their  rugged 
cheeks. 

Jerusalem!  Jerusalem!  what  thoughts  came 
trooping  through  our  minds  as  a  little  later,  in  order 
to  lengthen  our  journey,  we  passed  over  the  Mount 
of  Olives,  down  the  valley  of  the  Kidron,  by  Geth- 
semane's  garden,  and  then  almost  encircled  the  walls 
of  the  city  in  order  to  pass  in  at  the  Joppa  gate. 
"Our  feet  shall  stand  within  thy  gates,  Oh,  Jerusa- 
lem. Jerusalem  is  builded  as  a  city  that  is  compact 
together,  whither  the  tribes  go  up,  the  tribes  of  the 
Lord,  unto  the  testimony  of  Israel,  to  give  thanks 


140    THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

unto  the  name  of  the  Lord.  For  there  are  set 
thrones  of  judgment,  the  thrones  of  the  house  of 
David.  Pray  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem,  they  shall 
prosper  that  love  thee.  Peace  be  within  thy  walls, 
and  prosperity  within  thy  palaces.  For  my  brethren 
and  companions'  sakes,  I  will  now  say,  "Peace  be 
within  thee!" 


THE    ENTRANCE    TO    JERUSALEM    BY    JAFFA    GATE. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

JERUSALEM,  THE  HOLY  CITY. 

Some  one  has  well  said :  "The  value  of  a  book 
lies  not  so  much  in  what  it  tells  as  in  that  which 
it  suggests.'"  This  is  preeminently  true  of  Jerusalem. 
As  far  as  sightseeing  goes  there  are  certainly  many 
other  far  better  places  to  visit.  Many  matter-of-fact 
and  unimaginative  people  are  indeed  sorely  disap- 
pointed with  the  Jerusalem  of  to-day  and,  because 
of  a  certain  strain  upon  their  ancient  faith,  are 
sometimes  even  heard  to  wish  that  they  had  never 
gone.  But  this  is  because  they  made  the  mistake 
of  only  seeing  and  not  letting  what  they  saw  prove 
its  greatest  value  in  what  it  might  have  served  to 
suggest.  What  they  saw  was  only  an  old  city 
upon  an  elevation,  some  ancient-appearing  walls, 
some  narrow  tortuous  streets,  often  reeking  with 
unmentionable  filth  and  heavy  with  unsavory  odors, 
a  nondescript  crowd  of  people  of  all  nationalities, 
and  a  lot  of  so-called  "sacred  places"  with  but 
little  but  their  names  to  commend  them,  and  nothing 
about  them  to  excite  either  wonder  or  admiration. 


142     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

But  certainly  he  is  to  be  pitied  whose  vision  and 
perception  reach  no  further  than  this.  For  a  mind 
familiar  with  Scripture  suggestions,  a  heart  tender 
with  historical  and  Biblical  pathos,  and  a  nature 
generous  with  the  leaven  of  poetic  feeling  and  senti- 
ment must  feel  a  peculiar  thrill  as  before  him  rises 
the  Sacred  City,  Jerusalem,  the  Salem  of  Melchise- 
dek,  the  Jebus  of  the  Jebusites,  the  Capital  of  David 
the  King,  the  Holy  City  of  all  believers,  "beautiful 
for  situation,  the  joy  of  the  whole  earth  !"  Yes,  and 
better  than  all,  it  is  the  city  in  which  Christ  himself 
walked  in  human  form  and  where  he  taught,  and 
wrought,  and  over  which  he  wept,  and  through  the 
streets  of  which  he  went  willingly  to  the  Cross  for 
our  redemption.  Therefore  it  is  that  it  ceases  to 
be  chiefly  what  one  sees  that  is  of  value  when  he 
visits  the  city,  but  largely  and  satisfyingly  that  which 
it  recalls  and  so  well  serves  to  suggest.  It  is  cer- 
tainly a  very  great  privilege  to  have  one's  feet  stand 
within  her  gates  and  to  feel  forty  centuries  of  history 
pressing  upon  the  mind  for  recognition  and  review. 

Now,  how  shall  we  describe  this  most  wonder- 
ful city — a  city  through  whose  streets  the  feet  of 
prophets,  priests  and  kings,  of  apostles  and  martyrs, 
and  of  the  Saviour  of  the  world  have  passed?  Every 
niche  of  it  is  interesting,  for  "like  a  stringed  instru- 
ment every  touch  upon  which  brings  forth  some 
sweet  and  musical  sound,  it  vibrates  at  every  turn 


JERUSALEM,  THE  HOLY  CITY      143' 

with  some  suggestion  or  beautiful  passage  of  the 
Word  of  God." 

The  city  comes  to  notice  very  early  in  the  history 
of  God's  people.  When  Abraham  was  returning 
from  pursuing  the  confederate  kings  of  the  plain  we 
see  Melchizedek,  king  of  Salem,  meeting  him  with 
bread  and  wine  and  blessing  him.  This  same  Mel- 
chizedek was  "a  priest  of  the  most  high  God."  Later 
on,  in  the  time  of  the  Judges,  it  was  known  as 
Jebus.  After  the  conquest  of  David  the  two  names 
Jebus-Salem  were  combined  in  the  one  word  Jerusa- 
lem, the  slight  change  in  form  being  doubtless  made 
for  the  sake  of  euphony.  More  than  once  in  the 
Bible  it  is  called  the  Holy  City,  and  even  to-day  the 
Arabs  call  it  El  Khuds,  "the  holy." 

Under  David  and  Solomon  the  city  reached  its 
greatest  glory  and  wealth.  But  from  their  time  on 
it  has  a  strange  and  chequered  history.  Under 
David's  grandson  Rehoboam,  it  was  captured  by 
Shishak,  king  of  Egypt,  and  robbed  of  its  wealth. 
In  the  reign  of  Jehoshaphat  it  was  restored  to  some- 
thing like  its  former  prosperity,  but  Jehoram,  his 
son,  lost  it  to  the  Philistines  and  Arabians  and  it 
was  again  plundered.  Under  Athaliah  it  became  a 
shrine  of  abominable  Baal  worship,  but  was  reformed 
by  Jehoiada  in  the  earlier  days  of  the  reign  of  Joash, 
though  later  Joash  allowed  it  to  relapse  into  idola- 
try, for  which  sin  Hazael,  king  of  Syria,  was  per- 


144    THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

mitted  to  come  against  it  and  was  only  prevented 
from  destroying  it  by  the  gift  of  all  its  treas- 
ures. The  city  was  again  plundered  under  its  next 
king,  Amaziah.  Then  in  the  reign  of  Hezekiah, 
the  reader  will  recall,  how  "the  Assyrian  came  down 
like  the  wolf  on  the  fold"  against  it,  and  how  it  was 
saved  by  the  death  angel  who  slew  the  hosts  in  the 
night.  After  the  death  of  Josiah  it  was  entered  by 
the  Egyptians  under  Necho.  But  it  was  left  for 
Nebuchadnezzar,  by  two  awful  visitations,  to  utterly 
destroy  it  and  leave  it  a  heap  of  ruins,  while  the 
people  were  carried  away  into  captivity. 

After  fifty  years  of  desolation  the  city  was  occu- 
pied by  Zerubbabel,  under  the  decree  of  Cyrus. 
Then  followed  a  century  of  reproachful  history  until 
the  city  was  rebuilt  by  Nehemiah,  when  it  once  more 
prospered  and  became  the  metropolis  as  well  as  the 
capital  of  the  Jewish  nation. 

Other  reverses  followed  in  the  next  three  hun- 
dred years,  until  under  the  Maccabean  princes  it 
regained  a  fair  degree  of  prosperity. 

This  brings  us  down  to  the  Roman  period,  when, 
in  65  B.  C,  it  was  besieged  by  Pompey.  But  Herod 
the  Great  beautified  the  city,  erected  many  buildings 
and  rebuilt  the  temple  throughout.  The  city  of 
Herod  was  the  Jerusalem  in  which  Christ  taught 
and  over  which  he  wept  and  whose  people  cruelly 
crucified  him  on  the  cross. 


JERUSALEM,  THE  HOLY  CITY       145 

But,  alas,  the  bitter  lessons  of  the  past  did  not 
suffice  and  once  more  the  sword  must  come.  This 
time  it  was  the  most  terrible  in  the  annals  of  the 
city,  if  not  in  all  the  bloody  annals  of  the  most 
bloody  wars.  For  this  time  it  was  Titus,  with  his 
Roman  army,  who  utterly  demolished  the  city,  burn- 
ing the  beautiful  temple  and  putting  the  people  to 
the  sword. 

For  fifty  years  it  stood  a  barren  waste,  then  it 
was  made  the  site  of  a  heathen  city,  with  a  heathen 
name,  no  Jew  being  permitted  to  enter  its  walls,  and 
a  temple  to  Jupiter  occupying  the  sacred  site  on 
Mount  Moriah.  This  continued  till  the  time  of 
Constantine,  the  first  Christian  Emperor,  who  re- 
stored the  ancient  name,  and  his  mother,  the  good 
Helena,  made  a  pilgrimage  to  it  in  A.  D.  326.  For 
the  next  three  hundred  years  it  was  visited  with  fire 
and  sword  until  in  A.  D.  637  it  passed  under  the 
dominion  of  the  Moslems,  then  ruled  by  the  Caliph 
Omar,  and,  though  often  visited  by  persecution 
since,  the  city  has  gradually  recovered  until  to-day 
it  contains  a  population  of  something  over  sixty 
thousand, — seven  thousand  Moslems,  forty-one 
thousand  Jews,  and  thirteen  thousand  Christians. 

Thus  have  we  given,  in  fewest  possible  words,  the 
outlines  of  Jerusalem's  history.  It  has  sustained 
twenty-seven  sieges,  has  three  times  been  utterly  des- 
troyed, portions  of  it  being  literally  plowed  as  a  field, 
19 


146     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

and  again  and  again  have  its  streets  been  deluged  with 
blood.  It  is  estimated  that  the  city  of  Solomon's 
time  is  from  twenty  to  fifty  feet  under  the  present 
city.  The  Jerusalem  of  to-day  is  therefore  literally, 
as  prophesied  by  Jeremiah,  "builded  upon  its  own 
heap."  Below  its  houses,  courts  and  paved  streets 
lie  the  rubbish  and  wreckage  of  not  less  than  eight 
cities  which  have  arisen  in  successive  periods  and 
are  now  piled  one  above  another.  The  Holy  City 
of  the  prophets,  kings  and  apostles  is  a  composite 
underground  city,  which  can  only  be  studied  in  a 
fragmentary  way  as  the  evidences  of  its  former 
existence  and  greatness  are  laid  bare  with  pick  and 
spade.  Indeed,  as  one  of  its  best  explorers  says, 
reviewing  thirty  years  of  excavation  and  discovery : 
"If  we  examine  it,  we  have  to  determine  at  every 
step  among  the  ruins  of  which  city  we  are  standing. 
Solomon,  Nehemiah,  Herod,  Hadrian,  Constantine, 
Omar,  Godfrey,  Saladin,  Suleiman — each  in  turn 
representing  a  city." 

But  with  all  its  changes  there  is  much  of  the 
Jerusalem  of  the  past  that  still  remains.  The  mighty 
framework  of  the  everlasting  hills  on  which  it  rested, 
the  deep  valleys  which  surround  it,  and  the  mountains 
which  stand  round  about  it — these  are  all  there  and 
the  same  in  all  their  essential  features  as  when  David 
extolled  the  beauty  of  its  situation  or  when  Jesus 
beheld  its  later  glories  and  wept  over  it  and  its  sins 
and  the  doom  that  was  so  soon  to  come  upon  it. 


JERUSALEM,  THE  HOLY  CITY      147 

As  in  all  the  past,  due  to  the  necessities  of  its 
contracted  situation,  Jerusalem  is  a  city  that  is  "com- 
pactly built  together."  Its  streets  are  narrow,  its 
open  courts  few  and  limited  in  area,  and  its  houses 
are  massed  in  closest  juxtaposition  in  the  different 
quarters.  Despite  all  the  changes  and  transforma- 
tions of  recent  years,  and  they  are  certainly  very 
many,  it  still  retains  the  appearance  of  a  great  for- 
tress of  the  Middle  Ages.  But  let  us  not  forget 
that  the  city  has  a  real  beauty,  peculiar  to  itself. 
Its  massive  gray  walls,  its  broad-leaved  gates  and 
flanking  towers,  its  mosques  and  churches  and  con- 
vents, its  domes  and  minarets,  rising  conspicuously 
above  the  flat-roofed  houses — these  all  present  a 
picture  of  marvellous  beauty  and  impressiveness,  as 
we  see  them  outlined  in  the  clear  sunshine  from  the 
top  of  Olivet  or  Mount  Scopus. 

The  city  has  eleven  gates,  six  of  them  open  and 
five  of  them  closed,  and  it  is  divided  into  four  un- 
even sections  by  two  of  its  principal  streets,  David 
Street  and  Damascus  Street,  which  traverse  the  city 
almost  at  right  angles.  The  southwest  section  is 
the  Armenian  quarter ;  the  northwest,  the  Christian ; 
the  northeast,  the  Moslem;  and  the  southeast,  but 
not  including  the  Temple  Area,  is  the  Jewish  quarter. 
The  Temple  Area,  known  as  the  Haramesh  Sheriff, 
or  "Noble  Sanctuary,"  is  separated  from  the  rest 
of   the   city   by   a   high   encircling   wall   of   great 


148     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

strength.  This  quadrangle  enclosing  nearly  forty 
acres  of  ground,  was  once  occupied  by  the  great 
temple  of  Solomon  and  its  court,  and  later  by 
Herod's  temple.  It  is  now  occupied  by  the  Mosque 
of  Omar,  more  properly  called  "The  Dome  of  the 
Rock,"  and  the  Mosque  El  Aksa  and  the  courts  that 
surround  them. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

JERUSALEM,  THE  HOLY  CITY. 

(Continued.) 

Hmong  the  most  interesting  places  to  visit  inside 
the  city  of  Jerusalem  are  these:  First,  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  with  its  over  thirty 
"sacred  sites"  and  "holy  places."  It  is  one  immense 
pile  of  edifices  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
long  and  two  hundred  and  eighty  wide,  cover- 
ing the  traditional  site  of  the  crucifixion  and  burial 
of  Christ.  It  is  in  reality  a  collection  of  churches, 
chapels  and  shrines  grouped  together  under  one 
widely-extended  roof.  The  so-called  Tomb  of 
Christ  is  in  a  small  marble  edifice  in  the  center  of 
the  rotunda  beneath  the  dome.  In  another  section 
of  the  church,  on  an  elevation  reached  by  a  flight 
of  twenty  stone  steps  is  shown  the  place  of  the 
crucifixion.  While  it  is  admitted  that  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  is  the  successor  of  the  church 
built  upon  this  site  by  Constantine  in  A.  D.  325,  and 
that  it  has  been  revered  for  more  than  fifteen  centu- 
ries as  the  tomb  of  Christ,  yet  most  of  the  leading 


150     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

authorities  at  the  present  time  have  accepted  the 
conclusion  reached  by  Dr.  Edward  Robinson  many 
years  ago,  "that  its  genuineness  is  supported  neither 
by  well  authenticated  historical  facts,  nor  by  prior 
traditions,  nor  by  archeological  features."  Yet  it 
is  a  fact  that  no  other  spot  on  earth  has  drawn  to- 
gether so  many  pilgrim  bands  from  afar  or  has  cost 
so  much  in  blood  and  treasure.  Its  recovery  from 
the  hands  of  the  Infidel  was  the  dominant  thought 
of  all  Europe  for  more  than  two  hundred  years,  and 
it  is  estimated  that  the  several  crusades  organized 
to  accomplish  this  object  cost  from  six  to  ten  mil- 
lions of  human  lives. 

As  we  have  said,  besides  the  places  of  the  cross 
and  the  tomb  there  are  dozens  of  other  sacred  sites 
pointed  out  here,  such  as  the  stone  of  Unction,  the 
spot  where  the  Virgin  Mary  stood  when  the  body 
of  Christ  was  anointed,  the  stone  on  which  the  angel 
sat  when  He  arose,  the  tomb  of  Joseph  of  Arimathea 
and  Nicodemus,  the  altar  of  the  penitent  thief,  the 
spot  where  the  cross  stood,  the  spots  where  the 
crosses  of  the  thieves  stood,  the  rent  rock  near  the 
cross,  the  tomb  of  Adam,  the  tomb  of  Melchizedek, 
the  chapel  of  Helena,  the  chair  in  which  Helena  sat 
when  the  cross  was  found,  and  so  on  and  so  on.  Yet, 
we  wish  to  record,  after  having  visited  these  places 
and  many  more  besides,  that  there  is  a  certain  impres- 
siveness  about  every  one  of  them,  not  because  the 


JERUSALEM,  THE  HOLY  CITY       151 

traditions  concerning  them  are  true,  but  because  so 
many  people  think  they  are  true,  and  because  they 
have  served  to  keep  alive  in  the  minds  of  the  igno- 
rant and  superstitious  the  sacred  influence  of  the  life 
of  our  Lord,  which  most  of  them  commemorate. 

Next  in  importance  we  place  the  Mosque  of  Omar, 
or  "The  Dome  of  the  Rock."  Under  the  dome  of 
the  mosque  lies  a  large  irregular  stone  fifty-six  feet 
by  forty-two;  and  rising  about  five  feet  above  the 
marble  floor.  If  the  platform  were  removed  on 
which  the  whole  building  rests  this  ledge  of  rock 
would  stand  fifteen  feet  above  the  level  of  the  temple 
area.  It  is  the  highest  point  of  Mount  Moriah,  and 
is  the  place  where  Abraham  built  his  altar,  and 
where  stood  the  Holy  of  Holies  in  both  Solomon's 
and  Herod's  temple.  The  Moslems  tell  many 
marvellous  stories  concerning  this  rock,  one  of  which 
is  that  when  Mohammed  made  his  celebrated  flight 
to  heaven  and  back  he  started  from  its  surface,  and 
it  started  to  follow  him,  but  the  Angel  Gabriel  laid 
his  hands  on  it  and  stopped  it  after  it  had  risen 
to  its  present  height  above  the  surface.  They  show 
the  marks  of  the  angel's  hands !  Many  other  absurd 
things  are  told  the  travellers — all  of  which  are  not 
worth  repeating. 

The  mosque  itself  is  certainly  a  very  beautiful 
building,  octagonal  in  form  and  sheathed  with  richly 
colored  marbles  and  tiles  and  surmounted  by  an 


152     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

exquisitely  proportioned  dome.  As  some  one  has 
truly  said :  "From  whatever  point  that  graceful 
dome  with  its  beautiful  precinct  emerges  to  view,  it 
at  once  dignifies  the  whole  city."  The  interior, 
with  its  wonderful  variety  of  architectural  combi- 
nations and  groupings,  its  rich  decorations  in  stained 
glass,  marble  and  mosaic,  and  its  lavish  profusion 
of  gilt  tracery  and  inscriptions,  makes  it  indeed  a 
sumptuous  building  well  worthy  of  a  visit  for  its 
own  sake. 

South  of  the  platform,  within  the  same  temple 
enclosure,  is  the  Great  Mosque  of  El  Aksa  and  its 
associated  buildings.  This  pile  extends  to  the  outer 
wall  of  the  Haram  and  covers  a  space  two  hundred 
and  seventy-two  feet  by  one  hundred  and  eighty- four. 
The  original  structure  was  probably  a  Christian 
church  built  by  the  Emperor  Justinian.  "Taking  it 
in  mass  and  detail,"  says  Hepworth  Dixon,  "this 
group  of  the  Temple  Hill — the  Mosque  of  Omar  and 
El  Aksa,  the  domes,  the  terraces,  the  colonnades, 
the  kiosks  and  fountains — is  perhaps  the  very 
noblest  specimen  of  building  art  in  Asia." 

Other  places  of  special  interest  that  we  visited 
were  the  Church  of  St.  Anne,  a  very  ancient  build- 
ing erected  to  the  memory  of  the  highly  revered 
St.  Anne,  the  mother  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  It  is 
said  to  mark  the  dwelling  of  St.  Anne  and  the  birth- 
place of  the  Virgin.     Also  the  German  Protestant 


JERUSALEM,  THE  HOLY  CITY      153 

Church  of  the  Redeemer,  the  site  of  which  formerly- 
belonged  to  the  Knights  of  St.  John  and  was  pre- 
sented by  the  Sultan  to  the  Crown-Prince  of  Ger- 
many, when  he  was  on  a  visit  to  Constantinople  in 
1869.  The  fine  building  retains  some  of  the  ancient 
walls  and  architecture  and  was  dedicated  not  long 
since  during  a  visit  of  the  Emperor  of  Germany. 

We  went  through  the  Via  Dolorosa,  supposed  to 
be  the  route  along  which  Christ  passed  on  his  way 
to  the  Cross.  Along  it  are  the  fourteen  so-called 
Stations  of  the  Cross,  supposed  to  show  the  spot 
where  the  cross  was  placed  on  Jesus'  shoulders,  the 
spots  where  he  twice  fell  under  its  weight,  where  it 
was  transferred  to  the  shoulder  of  Simon  of  Cyrene, 
where  he  spoke  to  the  women  who  followed  him, 
where  St.  Veronica  wiped  his  face,  etc.  If  this 
were  really  the  road  he  went  who  could  pass  along 
it  without  tear-dimmed  eyes?  What  wonder  that 
the  pilgrims  who  believe  in  it  kiss  the  stones  under 
their  feet  with  passionate  devotion  and  press  their 
lips  against  the  wall !  But  there  is  no  likelihood 
that  this  is  the  exact  wTay,  for  the  street  of  Christ's 
time  must  be  buried  at  least  forty  feet  beneath  the 
rubbish  of  centuries. 

On  this  street  and  spanning  it  is  the  Ecce  Homo 

Arch,  said  to  mark  the  spot  where  Pilate  brought 

Jesus  forth  wearing  the  crown  of  thorns  and  the 

purple  robe  and  presented  him  to  the  multitude  for 

20 


154     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

their  pity  with  the  memorable  words,  "Ecce  Homo!" 
"Behold  the  Man!"  Next  to  this  arch  there  is  a 
modern  church,  called  the  Ecce  Homo  Church,  where 
we  attended  a  service,  the  worshippers  all  being 
women  and  dressed  in  white  robes. 

We  wish  we  had  space  in  which  to  tell  of  the 
Jewish  Wailing  Place  with  the  sights  and  sounds 
there,  of  Solomon's  Stables,  under  one  corner  of 
the  Temple  Area,  of  the  great  cisterns  under  the 
same  platform,  of  the  Pool  of  Hezekiah,  and  the 
Pool  of  Bethesda,  of  the  Tower  of  David,  the  Tower 
of  Antonia,  called  Pilate's  Judgment  Hall,  of  Robin- 
son's Arch,  all  of  which  we  visited;  also  of  the  con- 
vents and  monasteries  and  bazaars  and  schools  and 
synagogues,  to  all  of  which  there  seemed  to  be  no 
limit. 

The  necessary  limits  of  this  chapter  permit  now  of 
only  a  glimpse  at  the  almost  as  many  interesting 
places  just  outside  the  city.  There  is  Mount  Zion 
to  the  south  with  the  Tomb  of  David  and  its  Chamber 
of  the  Last  Supper,  the  Church  of  St.  James,  the 
House  of  Caiaphas,  its  lepers'  quarters  and  its 
schools  and  convents.  There  is  the  Mount  of  Olives 
to  the  east,  with  its  wonderful  view  and  its  many 
sacred  sites,  the  Chapel  of  the  Ascension,  the  Russian 
Buildings  with  their  six-storied  belvedere  tower, 
the  low-lying  Church  of  the  Creed,  where  the  apos- 
tles are  said  to  have  drawn  up  the  creed,  and  the 


JERUSALEM,  THE  HOLY  CITY       155 

Church  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  built  as  her  tomb  by 
a  French  Princess,  and  on  the  sides  of  which  the 
Lord's  Prayer  appears  in  thirty-two  different  lan- 
guages. It  is  said  to  be  on  the  spot  where  Christ 
taught  his  disciples  this  wonderful  Model  Prayer. 
Here  also  are  the  Tombs  of  The  Prophets,  and, 
coming  down  the  side  of  the  hill  toward  the  city, 
the  golden-domed  Russian  Church  of  St.  Mary 
Magdalene,  in  the  Greek  Garden  of  Gethsemane,  the 
Tombs  of  St.  James  and  Zachariah,  the  Pillar  of 
Absalom,  at  which  the  Jews  throw  stones  in  memory 
of  Absalom's  disobedience,  and  last  of  all,  near  the 
base,  the  traditional  site  of  the  Garden  of  Geth- 
semane. Happily  in  this  case  the  tradition  tallies 
closely  with  the  Bible  narrative,  and  it  is  quite  pos- 
sible to  believe  that  this  retired  spot  indicates  the 
true  location  of  the  hallowed  place  in  which  the 
Redeemer,  on  the  night  of  his  betrayal  prayed  in 
agony  of  spirit  while  his  sweat  was  as  it  were  great 
drops  of  blood,  falling  down  to  the  ground.  The 
walls  enclose  about  an  acre  of  ground  in  which 
are  eight  gnarled  olive  trees  of  extraordinary  girth 
and  great  age. 

There  is  no  space  in  which  to  tell  of  the  Valley 
of  the  Kidron,  here,  with  its  innumerable  tombs,  nor 
of  the  Pool  and  Village  of  Siloam.  Nor  of  the 
Valley  of  Hinnom,  on  the  other  side  of  the  city, 
with  its  tombs  and  its  catacombs,  and  the  Hill  of 


156    THE  LAND  WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

Evil  Counsel  above  it  on  one  side  and  the  Mount 
of  Offense  on  the  other,  with  its  traditional  Potter's 
Field  to  bury  strangers  in.  Nor  of  the  impressive 
Tombs  of  the  Kings  and  Tombs  of  the  Judges  to 
the  north,  nor  of  the  wonderful  underground  cave 
known  as  Solomon's  Quarries,  one  of  the  most 
interesting  places  we  visited.  Think  of  an  under- 
ground cavern,  and  before  the  days  of  gunpowder, 
quarried  out  of  the  solid  rock  seven  hundred  feet 
long,  three  hundred  feet  wide  and  averaging  forty 
feet  in  height.  Some  of  the  big  blocks  are  there 
still  just  as  the  workmen  left  them. 

But  to  our  mind  the  most  impressive  place  of  all 
to  visit  is  the  spot  of  ground  lying  on  a  little  knoll 
just  outside  the  Damascus  Gate,  and  almost  im- 
mediately across  the  road  from  the  quarries  we  have 
mentioned.  This,  in  the  opinion  of  an  ever  in- 
creasing number  of  scholars,  is  the  veritable  site  of 
the  crucifixion,  the  "green  hill  far  away,  outside 
a  city  wall,"  the  true  site  of  Calvary.  We  do  not 
believe  there  was  one  person  in  all  our  large  party 
who  was  able  to  throw  off  the  impression  that  this 
is  the  true  site.  The  evidence  for  it  seems  over- 
whelming. 

Review  in  your  mind  just  what  the  Bible  says 
about  Calvary.  First,  that  it  was  a  place  outside 
the  city  walls — Matthew,  John  and  Hebrews.  Sec- 
ondly,  that  it  was  a  place  nigh  to  the  city — the 


JERUSALEM,  THE  HOLY  CITY      157 

Gospel  of  John.  Thirdly,  that  it  was  a  place  popu- 
larly known  under  the  general  designation  of  "the 
place  of  the  skull," — Matthew  and  John.  Fourthly, 
that  it  was  nigh  to  one  of  the  leading  thorough- 
fares to  and  from  Jerusalem — Matthew  and  Mark. 
Fifthly,  that  it  was  nigh  to  sepulchres  and  gardens 
— the  Gospel  of  John.  Lastly,  that  it  was  very  con- 
spicuous, that  it  could  be  seen  by  those  at  a  distance 
— Matthew,  Luke  and  John. 

Now,  what  are  the  facts  as  we  see  them  here  to- 
day? First,  that  this  so-called  "true  site,"  or  "Gor- 
don's Calvary,"  is  outside  the  walls,  not  only  out- 
side the  present  walls,  but  of  the  old  ones,  too,  of 
the  time  of  Christ.  Secondly,  that  it  was  nigh  the 
city,  being  only  just  outside  the  gate.  Thirdly,  that 
it  is  in  shape  like  a  skull,  both  in  its  rounded  out- 
line and  in  the  peculiar  lay  of  the  upward-bulging 
rock-formation  which  shapes  the  hill.  It  may  be 
imagination,  but  as  you  stand  at  a  little  distance 
on  the  side  toward  the  Damascus  road  you  cannot 
get  rid  of  the  impression  of  its  being  shaped  like 
and  even  of  its  having  the  appearance  of  a  skull. 
It  is  also  traditionally  known  as  a  place  of  execu- 
tion, or  the  "place  of  stoning."  Fourthly,  as  the 
Scripture  account  requires,  it  is  on  one  of  the  present 
and  ancient  thoroughfares  to  and  from  Jerusalem, 
namely,  the  road  to  Damascus,  which,  as  far  as  is 
known,  has  been  about  in  its  present  location  since 


158     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

the  beginning  of  the  city's  history.  Fifthly,  it  is 
a  prominent  hill  and  the  only  prominent  one  to  the 
north  near  the  city,  and  it  can  easily  be  seen  from 
all  directions.  But  lastly,  and  more  strangely  still, 
as  it  may  seem,  this  view  has  been  greatly  strength- 
ened in  recent  times  by  the  discovery  of  a  tomb  in  a 
garden  near  by,  and  just  the  right  sort  of  a  tomb, 
a  genuine  ancient  rock-hewn  sepulchre.  May  not 
this  have  been  the  tomb  of  Joseph  of  Arimathea 
into  which  the  body  of  Jesus  was  placed?  It  fulfills 
all  the  historical  conditions,  and  it  has  not  been 
tampered  with,  covered  over  with  marble  or  hung 
with  golden  lamps,  but  is  left  in  the  broken  con- 
dition in  which  it  was  found,  except  that  the  broken 
front  has  been  partly  walled  up.  At  any  rate,  when 
we  made  our  way  into  it  and  placed  our  hands  on  the 
walls  and  saw  the  place  where  Christ's  body  is  thought 
to  have  rested,  an  impression  came  upon  us  which 
we  could  not  shake  off,  verily  "This  is  the  place 
where  the  Lord  lay."  And  this  impression  and  all 
others  favorable  to  this  site  were  greatly  deepened, 
too,  as  on  that  Sunday  morning  a  large  company  of 
us  gathered  on  the  summit  of  the  little  hill  and  held 
a  never-to-be-forgotten  service  here.  The  old  Bible 
became  a  new  Bible  to  us  as  the  accounts  of  the 
crucifixion  were  read  in  our  hearing,  and  tears  stood 
in  many  an  eye  as  we  sang  together  the  hymn  which 


INTERIOR  OF  THE   MOSQUE  OF  OMAR,  JERUSALEM. 


JERUSALEM,  THE  HOLY  CITY       159 

bore  the  needed  lesson  for  us  then,  as  it  does  for 
every  one  of  our  readers : 

"There  is  a  green  hill   far  away, 

Without  a  city  wall, 
Where  the  dear  Lord  was  crucified, 

Who  died  to  save  us  all. 
We   may  not  know,   we   cannot  tell 

What  pains  he  had  to  bear; 
But  we  believe  it  was   for  us 

He  hung  and  suffered  there. 

He  died  that  we  might  be  forgiven, 

He  died  to  make  us  good 
That  we  might  go  at  last  to  heaven 

Saved  by  His  precious  blood. 
Oh  dearly,  dearly  has  he  loved; 

And  we  must  love  Him  too, 
And  trust  in  His  redeeming, 

And  try  His  work  to  do." 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

TO  BETHANY  AND  THE  GOOD  SAMARITAN  INN. 

'TT'o  the  visitor  in  Palestine  there  is  often  a  strange 
^■^  fascination  even  in  the  names  of  places.  This 
seems  to  be  true  without  regard  to  whether  there  is 
much  or  little  now  remaining  to  be  seen  when  the 
places  are  reached.  For  example,  the  village  of 
Bethany  is  in  itself  a  most  unattractive  place — only 
a  cluster  of  dilapidated  mud-and-stone  huts;  but 
what  does  that  matter?  Who  could  find  himself 
within  possible  reach  of  the  place  and  not  feel  an 
almost  irresistible  drawing  to  visit  it,  to  have  his 
eyes  rest  upon  what  does  remain,  and  especially  upon 
the  unchanging  natural  surroundings  in  which  the 
village  where  Christ  was  so  frequently  a  guest  was 
located?  Likewise  the  mention  of  Bethlehem,  or 
Bethel,  or  Jacob's  Well,  or  scores  of  other  places, 
brings  the  same  restless  longing  to  set  out  at  once 
for  the  region  in  which  they  are  found.  We  doubt 
not  that  it  is  this  same  law  of  association  which 
causes  the  simple  words,  "A  certain  man  went  down 
from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho,"  to  throw  such  a  peculiar 
glamour  of  interest  around  the  short  side-trip  that 


BETHANY  161 

takes  one  from  Jerusalem  down  to  Jericho  and  the 
Jordan  and  the  Dead  Sea.  Though  it  is  not  an  easy- 
trip,  not  unattended  with  inconvenience  from  heat 
and  dust,  most  of  the  year,  when  the  Jordan  valley 
and  the  Dead  Sea  basin  are  reached,  yet  there  is 
scarcely  a  visitor  to  Jerusalem  who  would  think  of 
omitting  it. 

As  in  the  time  of  Christ,  it  is  still  "down  to  Jeri- 
cho," the  descent  being  four  thousand  feet  in  less 
than  twenty  miles.  The  road,  for  fortunately  a  good 
one  has  been  built  in  recent  years,  leads  most  of  the 
way  down  a  winding  ravine,  through  a  remarkably 
rough,  barren  and  desolate  country.  It  passes 
through  the  hilly,  treeless  tract,  bounded  on  the  east 
by  the  Dead  Sea,  on  the  west  by  the  "hill  country 
of  Judea,"  and  stretching  to  the  south  as  far  as  the 
wells  of  Beer-sheba,  known  as  the  "wilderness  of 
Judea."  Our  western  conception  of  a  wilderness 
is  a  portion  of  country  covered  with  trees  and  under- 
brush. It  may  be  very  rich  and  fertile.  But  the  peo- 
ple of  Palestine  know  what  a  wilderness  really  is, 
and  they  have  it  here  in  this  rough,  uninhabited, 
desolate  waste.  It  was  among  these  barren  hills 
that  John  the  Baptist  was  trained  for  his  great  mis- 
sion, and  where  he  began  his  ministry.  These  glens, 
where  now  the  wild  Bedouins  pitch  their  black  tents, 
and  rock-ribbed  hills  once  echoed  to  his  voice,  and 
in  the  same  direction  in  which  we  were  traveling, 

21 


162     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

"Jerusalem  and  all  Judea,  and  all  the  region  round 
about  Jordan"  hurried,  some  with  eager  curiosity 
and  others  with  sincere  desire,  "to  be  baptized  of 
him  in  Jordan." 

The  road  at  the  first,  as  it  leaves  Jerusalem,  passes 
the  Garden  of  Gethsemane,  and  then,  leading  along 
the  front  of  the  Mount  of  Olives,  gradually  ascend- 
ing, it  winds  around  the  southern  slope  about 
one  hundred  feet  below  its  summit  and  crosses  a 
depression  in  the  ridge  which  connects  that  mount 
with  the  Mount  of  Offence.  Here  it  begins  to  bend 
toward  the  east.  It  is  near  this  point  that  the  spot 
is  shown  where  Judas  is  said  to  have  hanged  him- 
self. After  further  skirting  the  southern  slope  of 
the  mountain,  passing  a  large  slaughter-house,  the 
place  is  pointed  out  where  stood  the  barren  fig  tree 
which  was  cursed  by  Christ.  Soon  thereafter,  about 
forty  minutes  after  our  leaving  Jerusalem,  we  came 
to  Bethany,  where  we  made  our  first  halt  on  the  way. 

The  Arabic  name  of  Bethany  is  El  Azariyah,  from 
Lazarus,  or  Lazarium,  the  Arabs  having  taken  the  L 
for  an  article.  We  were  almost  sorry  to  think  of 
this  wretched  place  as  the  site  of  the  loved  Bethany 
of  the  time  of  Christ.  It  is,  as  some  one  has  said, 
"a  little  town  of  hovels  and  of  sore-eyed  children 
crying  pitifully  for  'backshish.' '  But  the  poverty 
stricken  condition  of  the  village  is  due  to  lack  of 
energy  on  the  part  of  the  people  rather  than  to  lack 


BETHANY  163 

of  good  location.  For  the  place  is  beautifully 
situated,  upon  quite  a  fertile  part  of  the  mountain, 
and  in  the  midst  of  abounding  olive,  pomegranate, 
fig  and  almond  trees.  We  are  told  that  at  a  very 
early  period  churches  and  monasteries  were  erected 
here  and  that  spots  of  traditional  interest  were 
pointed  out  to  pilgrims.  The  Roman  lady  Paula 
is  said  to  have  visited  a  church  on  the  site  of  Lazarus' 
grave,  and  Milicent,  wife  of  Fulke,  fourth  king  of 
Jerusalem,  is  reported  to  have  built  a  nunnery  here 
beside  the  Church  of  St.  Lazarus,  in  A.  D.  H38. 
The  most  conspicuous  object  now  visible  is  a  ruined 
tower,  the  so-called  "Castle  of  Lazarus,"  said  to  be 
older  than  the  time  of  the  Crusaders,  but  the  origin 
of  which  is  not  known.  But  the  most  interesting 
places  are  the  Tomb  of  Lazarus  and  the  house  of 
Mary  and  Martha.  At  the  Tomb  of  Lazarus,  which 
is  located  at  the  very  centre  of  the  village,  the  travel- 
ler is  led  down  a  flight  of  dark,  narrow  stone  steps, 
twenty-four  in  number,  into  a  small  underground 
chamber  which  is  said  to  have  been  a  chapel  once, 
and  is  now  both  a  Muslim  and  Christian  place  of 
prayer.  Here,  turning  to  the  east  and  descending 
three  steps  more  we  reached  the  so-called  tomb- 
chamber  of  Lazarus.  It  is  roughly  lined  with 
masonry  and  its  whole  appearance  very  unlike  that 
of  any  Jewish  tomb.  We  believe  that  if  the  tomb 
in  which  Lazarus  was  buried  is  still  in  existence 


1 64     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

at  all,  it  is  far  more  likely  that  it  is  one  of  the  many 
caverns  outside  the  village  to  the  southeast  and 
south  than  this  chamber  under  a  mosque  in  the  very 
heart  of  the  village  itself. 

At  a  distance  of  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
from  the  Tomb  of  Lazarus  we  were  shown  the  ruins 
of  the  reputed  house  of  the  two  sisters,  Mary  and 
Martha,  whom  Jesus  loved.  Our  only  wonder  was, 
as  we  saw  its  diminutive  size,  how  Martha  could 
have  been  cumbered  with  much  serving.  Opposite, 
upon  an  elevated  bank,  were  some  shattered  walls 
which  they  told  us  was  the  house  of  Simon  the  leper ! 
But  however  much  we  may  question  the  reliability 
of  these  traditional  sites,  one  thing  is  sure  beyond 
question,  namely,  that  the  present  Bethany  occupies 
about  the  site  of  the  Jewish  village  which  was  to 
Jesus  one  of  the  best  loved  spots  on  earth.  Bethany ! 
What  a  privilege  it  was  to  linger  here  and  think  of 
him  who  used  to  rest  here  under  the  blooming 
almond  trees,  and  who  in  the  home  of  Mary,  Martha 
and  Lazarus  so  often  found  shelter  and  refreshment 
and  that  responsive  love  which  was  elsewhere  so 
generally  denied  him !  Let  us  not  overlook  the  fact 
that  it  was  hither,  too,  he  brought  his  disciples  on  that 
clay  when  his  earthly  mission  being  ended,  he  was 
taken  up  from  their  sight  into  heaven.  One  of  the 
evangelists  describing  the  ascension,  plainly  states 
that  Jesus  led  out  his  disciples  "as  far  as  Bethany," 


BETHANY  165 

and  that  when  they  returned  it  was  from  Jerusalem 
"a  Sabbath  day's  journey."  How  strange  that 
churches  of  Ascension  should  be  built  on  the  sum- 
mit of  the  Mount  of  Olives  which  overlooks  Jerusa- 
lem, when  the  Scripture  account  teaches  so  plainly 
that  "he  led  them  out  as  far  as  Bethany !" 

Beyond  Bethany,  the  road  leading  up  a  gradual 
ascent,  in  a  few  minutes  we  came  to  the  so-called 
"Stone  of  Rest."  This  is  a  rough  piece  of  rock 
about  three  feet  long  which  many  ignorant  pilgrims 
devoutly  kiss.  It  is  on  the  left  hand  side  of  the 
road  and  is  reputed  to  mark  the  spot  where  Martha 
met  Jesus,  as  he  came  to  see  the  mourning  sisters 
after  the  death  of  their  brother  Lazarus.  The  inci- 
dent is  recorded  by  John  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of 
his  Gospel,  where  it  is  stated:  "Then  Martha,  as 
soon  as  she  heard  that  Jesus  was  coming,  went  out 
and  met  him,  but  Mary  sat  still  in  the  house.  Then 
said  Martha  unto  Jesus,  Lord,  if  thou  hadst  been 
here,  my  brother  had  not  died."  A  little  to  the 
south  of  this  stone,  on  the  right  side  of  the  road, 
the  Greek  Catholics  have  erected  a  chapel  and  con- 
vent on  ancient  foundation  walls.  The  chapel  en- 
closes another  stone  which  they  believe  to  be  the 
genuine  one.  The  Arabic  name  of  the  place  is  El 
Juneineh,  or  "Little  Garden." 

At  a  distance  of  about  one  mile  further,  the  road 
descends  by  a  serpentine  course  into  a  narrow  valley 


166    THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

called  Wady  El  Hod,  or  the  valley  of  the  watering 
place,  and  within  the  distance  of  another  mile  we 
came  to  the  famous  watering  place  itself.  What 
the  visitor  sees  is  a  copious  spring,  about  one  hun- 
dred yards  below  the  road,  flowing  from  a  broken 
Saracenic  arch  of  cut  stone,  the  waters  running  away 
in  a  good-sized  stream  down  the  valley.  We  were 
told  that  a  handsome  building  once  enclosed  this 
spring  and  that  there  was  a  much  used  khan  here, 
both  dating  from  some  time  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
It  is  certain  that  for  at  least  four  hundred  years  the 
place  has  been  designated  as  the  Apostles'  Spring, 
the  name  being  given  on  the  assumption  that  the 
apostles  must  have  drunk  of  its  waters  on  their 
journeys.  It  is  to-day  a  general  halting  place  for 
travelers,  where  men  and  animals  slake  their  thirst 
and  tarry  for  conversation  and  rest.  On  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  road  from  the  spring  some  enterpris- 
ing Arabs  have  set  up,  in  a  portion  of  an  old  stone 
building,  a  so-called  coffee-shop,  where  a  few  very 
undesirable  refreshments  can  be  purchased.  It  is 
mostly  a  place  where  the  natives  gather  to  sip  Turk- 
ish coffee  and  smoke  their  nargilehs,  or  water-pipes, 
which  they  do  with  an  air  of  leisure  as  if  to-day 
would  last  forever  and  no  one  ever  could  be  in  a 
hurry. 

From  this  point  the  road  continues  to  descend, 
with  now  and  then  a  short  level  stretch.     Once  or 


BETHANY  167 

twice  it  crosses  the  ravine  on  an  arched  stone  bridge. 
There  are  evidences  everywhere  that  there  must  be 
a  great  rush  of  water  along  the  torrent  beds  during 
the  rainy  season.  About  half  way  to  Jericho  the 
road  crosses  the  saddle  of  a  high  ridge,  in  passing 
from  one  wady  to  another,  and  here  is  the  traditional 
site  of  the  parable  of  the  Good  Samaritan.  The 
character  of  the  country  here  about  is  certainly  such 
as  to  make  it  an  inviting  place  for  highwaymen,  and 
from  our  own  experience  and  observation  it  became 
easy  for  us  to  believe  thieves  much  more  plentiful 
in  this  country  than  are  the  Good  Samaritans.  Here 
at  the  road  side  just  over  the  crest  of  the  hill  a  new 
khan,  or  inn,  has  been  built,  with  a  high  walled 
enclosure  containing  possibly  an  acre  of  ground 
at  the  back  of  it,  for  confining  animals  of  any  cara- 
vans that  may  tarry.  The  old  inn,  for  there  has 
long  been  a  caravansary  here,  is  in  ruins  on  a  knoll 
just  above.  Of  course  we  all  stopped  at  the  Good 
Samaritan  Inn.  There  is  good  water  here — at  least 
it  is  said  to  be  good,  but  since  the  well  is  in  the 
middle  of  the  cattle  yard,  we  took  the  keeper's  word 
for  it,  and  did  not  taste  it.  There  is  also  quite  a 
museum  attached  to  the  inn,  and  one  could  buy  old 
firearms,  swords,  spears  and  primitive  weapons  of 
wood,  or  modern  canteens,  in  which  to  bring  back 
Jordan  water,  and  many  other  things  likely  to  strike 
the  fancy  of  travelers. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE    BROOK     CHERITH    AND    JERICHO. 

♦fiw  aving  lightened  our  purses  a  little  and  taken 
™*J  sufficient  rest  we  resumed  our  journey  from  the 
Good  Samaritan  Inn,  only  to  find  that  the  wildest 
and  most  desolate  part  of  the  road  was  yet  before 
us.  On  the  one  side  the  white  limestone  rocks 
reared  their  cones  a  thousand  feet  above  us,  the  sun- 
shine on  their  barren  sides  proving  very  trying  to 
the  eyes,  while  on  the  other  side  were  deep  gorges, 
falling  so  rapidly  away  that  many  could  scarcely 
bear  to  look  over  their  precipitous  sides  into  the 
gloomy  depths  below.  This  deep  ravine  as  it  nears 
the  Jordan  plain  is  called  the  Wadi  El  Kelt ;  or 
rather,  this  is  the  name  given  to  the  stream  which 
most  of  the  year  goes  rushing  through  it.  There 
is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  this  is  the  "Brook  Che- 
rith,"  by  which  Elijah  was  hidden  and  fed  by  ravens 
until  the  brook  ran  dry.  It  is  the  only  brook  "be- 
fore Jordan"  suitable  for  such  concealment.  We 
attach  no  importance  to  the  claim  of  some  one  who, 
especially  anxious  to  do  away  with  a  Bible  miracle, 
claims  that  Elijah  was  fed  here  by  a  tribe  of  migrat- 


THE  BROOK  CHERITH  AND  JERICHO  169 

ing  Arabs  who  happened  to  have  the  same  name  as 
the  Hebrew  word  for  ravens.  We  accept  the  account 
in  its  simplicity,  just  as  it  stands,  that  "the  ravens 
brought  him  bread  and  flesh  in  the  morning,  and 
bread  and  flesh  in  the  evening,  and  he  drank  of  the 
brook."  That  is  all  any  one  knows  of  the  matter, 
and  it  certainly  is  not  a  very  incredible  thing  to 
happen.  He  who  giveth  food  to  "the  young  ravens 
which  cry"  could  certainly  feed  one  of  his  prophets 
here  by  the  Brook  Cherith. 

Unattractive  as  is  this  dark  abyss  as  a  place  to  live, 
yet  it  is  a  fact  that  the  example  of  Elijah  recom- 
mended it  to  a  great  many  people  in  succeeding 
ages;  for  in  the  walls  of  the  ravine,  so  high  above 
the  bed  of  the  stream  as  to  seem  absolutely  inacces- 
sible, we  saw  grottoes,  and  little  walled  cells  on 
ledges  of  rock,  where  monks  and  hermits  make  their 
abode  even  to  this  day.  It  is  said  that  in  the  fourth 
and  fifth  centuries  monks  swarmed  in  all  the  desert 
places  of  Palestine.  We  can  easily  believe  it  for 
unmistakable  evidences  of  their  presence  are  seen  in 
many  regions,  especially  here  and  on  the  eastern  face 
of  Mount  Quarantania,  just  below,  the  traditional 
site  of  Christ's  temptation.  The  ranges  of  cliffs 
here  seem  to  have  been  honey-combed  with  cells  and 
caverns  and  chapels  and  sepulchres  and  tunnels  and 
staircases,  the  work  of  hosts  of  devout  but  supersti- 
tious anchorites  and  pilgrims.  Especially  on  the 
22 


170     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

point  of  Mount  Oaurantania  did  we  see  numbers  of 
cells  and  cliff  dwellings  stuck  like  swallows'  nests 
on  the  ledges  of  rock  or  in  the  caves,  some  of  which 
are  occupied  all  the  year  round.  We  were  told  that 
every  spring  a  number  of  devout  Abyssinian  Chris- 
tians are  in  the  habit  of  coming  here  and  of  remain- 
ing the  forty  days  of  Lent,  in  order  to  observe  this 
time  of  penance  on  the  exact  spot  where  they  suppose 
our  Saviour  to  have  fasted  and  been  tempted — for 
this  is  the  wilderness  region  where  he  was  during 
the  awful  testing  he  underwent  at  the  opening  of 
his  public  ministry. 

We  have  anticipated  a  little  in  mentioning  Mount 
Quarantania  just  here,  as  it  was  not  visible  until  we 
came  out  into  the  Jordan  plain. 

As  we  came  out  from  between  the  hills  and  de- 
scended rapidly  toward  the  level  a  magnificent  view 
presented  itself,  for  the  valley  of  the  Jordan,  here 
about  sixteen  miles  wide,  the  Dead  Sea  and  the 
mountains  of  Moab  beyond,  all  lay  before  us  like  a 
great  map  or  a  picture.  As  one  approaches  the  base 
of  the  hill  the  first  object  of  special  interest  that 
catches  the  eye  is  the  remains  of  a  large  ancient 
reservoir.  It  is  five  hundred  and  sixty-four  feet 
long  and  four  hundred  and  seventy-one  feet  wide, 
and  is  called  by  the  natives  Birket  Musa,  the  Pool 
of  Moses.  Its  eastern  wall  is  still  almost  perfect 
and  stands  about  eight  feet  above  the  accumulated 


THE  BROOK  CHERITH  AND  JERICHO  171 

earth  inside;  but  the  other  walls  are  much  broken 
and  the  pool  is  nearly  filled  up.  It  must  once  have 
held  an  immense  quantity  of  water.  It  doubtless 
belonged  to  the  ancient  system  of  conduits  which 
once  irrigated  this  whole  district  and  rendered  it  a 
veritable  paradise  for  beauty  and  fertility.  It  is 
thought  it  may  be  a  pool  constructed  by  Herod  near 
his  great  palace  at  Jericho,  for  this,  it  appears,  is  the 
site  of  the  Jericho  of  New  Testament  times. 

The  name  Jericho  has  been  applied  to  three  differ- 
ent cities,  of  different  times  succeeding  one  another, 
and  all  in  this  immediate  vicinity  though  occupying 
three  different  sites.  First  there  was  the  Canaanit- 
ish  city,  destroyed  by  Joshua,  when  the  people 
marched  around  its  walls.  Secondly,  there  was  the 
Roman  Jericho  of  the  Herods  and  New  Testament 
times.  And  then  finally  there  is  the  present  town 
which  was  founded  by  the  Crusaders. 

The  Jericho  of  to-day  is  one  of  the  meanest  and 
most  unattractive  places  in  all  Palestine.  It  con- 
sists of  a  small  collection  of  huts  of  the  most  squalid 
tumble-down  sort,  partly  built  of  sun-dried  bricks 
and  partly  of  small  rough  stones,  and  is  inhabited 
by  the  laziest  sort  of  lazy  Arabs.  It  has  two  ex- 
tremely poor  hotels,  one  called  the  Jordan  House 
and  the  other  the  Gilgal  House.  The  only  remains 
of  any  interest  here  are  a  portion  of  an  ancient 
church,  now  in  the  hands  of  the  orthodox  Greeks, 


172    THE  LAND  WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

i 
and  a  building  resembling  a  tower  on  the  southeast 

side  of  the  village.  It  was  probably  a  watch-tower 
intended  to  protect  the  crops  against  the  incursions 
of  the  wild  Bedouins;  though  since  the  fifteenth 
century  it  has  commonly  been  reported  to  occupy 
the  site  of  the  home  of  Zacchseus.  It  is  said  that 
near  by  there  once  stood  a  sycamore  tree  into  which 
Zacchaeus  climbed  to  see  Christ,  as  he  was  passing 

by\ 

The  ancient  Jericho,  of  Joshua's  time,  lay  nearly 

two  miles  to  the  northwest  of  the  present  village, 
near  by  what  is  now  known  by  Europeans  as 
"Elisha's  Fountain,"  though  by  the  native  Arabs 
the  fountain  is  called  "Ain  es  Sultan,"  or  the 
Fountain  of  the  Sultan.  It  is  a  great  mound  of 
earth  and  it  is  believed  that  excavations  and  explora- 
tions there  will  some  day  in  the  near  future  reveal 
treasures  of  untold  value  to  archaeologists  and  the 
students  of  Biblical  history.  Dr.  Bliss  in  visiting 
this  mound,  which  is  called  Tell  es  Sultan,  in  1894, 
found  fragments  of  very  ancient  pottery  and  por- 
tions of  a  wall.  "I  confess,"  he  says,  "that  this  wall 
sent  a  thrill  through  me.  If  Tell  es  Sultan  is  a  mass 
of  debris  caused  by  the  ruin  of  several  mud-brick 
towns  over  the  first  Jericho,  then  there  is  good  reason 
to  suppose  that  this  wall,  uncovered  near  the  base 
of  the  mound,  at  its  edge,  is  the  very  wall  which 
fell  before  the  eyes  of  the  Captain  Joshua.     Tell  es 


THE  BROOK  CHERITH  AND  JERICHO  173 

Sultan  is  a  long  mound,  over  one  thousand  two  hun- 
dred feet  in  length  from  north  to  south,  about  fifty 
feet  high,  with  four  superimposed  mounds,  the  high- 
est being  some  ninety  feet  above  the  fountain,  which 
is  at  the  east,  but  not  more  than  sixty  or  seventy 
feet  above  the  ground  at  the  west,  as  the  mound 
occurs  where  the  land  slopes  down  to  the  plain." 

The  Jericho  of  the  Saviour's  time  lay  not  far 
from  the  present  village,  but  somewhat  to  the  south 
and  nearer  the  hills.  The  town  was  of  considerable 
size  and  enclosed  by  walls.  The  vegetation  in  and 
about  it  was  very  rich,  it  being  called  "the  city  of 
palms,"  and  even  down  to  the  seventh  century  of  our 
era  date-palms  were  common  and  the  region  was 
noted  for  its  fertility.  From  Elisha's  Fountain, 
from  other  fountains  further  away,  from  the  brook 
Cherith,  and  possibly  even  from  the  Jordan  itself 
water  was  copiously  conveyed  in  aqueducts  and  in 
streams  for  irrigation,  and  the  whole  district  around 
the  town  was  a  flourishing  oasis  of  gardens  and 
fields.  Even  to-day,  at  any  spot  where  water  is 
brought,  there  may  be  seen  patches  of  cucumbers 
and  melons  and  maize  and  various  kinds  of  vege- 
tables growing  thriftily,  and  we  doubt  not  a  little 
enterprise  could  transform  the  whole  district  into 
a  paradise  of  beauty  and  fruitfulness — though  the 
region  is  so  hot  most  of  the  year,  lying  as  it  does 
in  a  depression  nearly  nine  hundred  feet  below  the 


174    THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

level  of  the  sea,  that  we  think  few  people  would  care 
to  make  it  a  place  of  permanent  residence. 

The  region  was  at  one  time  especially  noted  for 
its  balsam  gardens,  though  the  balsam  plant  has 
now  disappeared  entirely.  We  know  that  in  the 
time  of  Christ  shady  sycamores  stood  by  the  way- 
side, though  now  thorn  bushes  are  about  the  largest 
trees  seen.  It  is  from  this  variety  Christ's  crown 
of  thorns  is  said  to  have  been  made.  The  bushes 
are  used  by  the  Bedouins  for  the  almost  unapproach- 
able fences  they  place  around  their  gardens  and  huts. 
The  revenues  derived  from  this  region  were  counted 
a  very  desirable  addition  to  their  income  by  the 
Roman  conquerors,  Mark  Antony  at  one  time  as  a 
special  favor  assigned  them  to  Cleopatra.  They 
were  afterward  recovered  for  himself  by  Herod  the 
Great,  who  embellished  the  city  with  palaces  and 
constituted  it  his  winter  residence,  as  being  the  most 
beautiful  spot  for  the  purpose  in  his  dominions.  As 
late  as  the  occupation  of  the  Crusaders  the  revenues 
of  the  plain  about  Jericho  were  estimated  at  twenty- 
five  thousand  dollars  a  year,  these  being  derived 
mostly  from  the  cultivation  of  sugar  cane.  A 
number  of  ruins  of  sugar  mills  may  still  be  seen  in 
the  vicinity. 

The  position  of  Jericho,  at  the  opening  of  the 
pass  leading  up  to  Jerusalem,  made  it  a  place  of 
general  rendezvous  for  pilgrim  bands  going  to  and 


THE  BROOK  CHERITH  AND  JERICHO  175 

returning  from  the  great  religious  festivals  of  the 
Jews  at  Jerusalem,  and  we  recall  that  on  his  last 
journey  to  that  city,  "with  his  face  set  steadfastly 
toward  Jerusalem,"  Jesus  tarried  here  for  a  brief 
time.  It  was  on  this  occasion  he  healed  the  two 
blind  men.  Some  one  has  wisely  pointed  out  the 
fact  that  the  distinction  between  the  then  new  and 
old  towns  may  well  solve  the  seeming  discrepancy 
between  Matthew,  who  makes  the  miracle  to  have 
been  when  Jesus  was  leaving  Jericho,  and  Luke  who 
says  it  was  "when  Jesus  was  come  nigh  unto 
Jericho." 

In  ancient  times  one  of  the  schools  of  the  prophets 
was  established  here,  and  the  place  was  frequently 
honored  by  the  visits  of  Elijah  and  Elisha.  To  this 
school  Elijah  came  on  his  last  round  of  visitation 
just  before  his  translation,  and  it  was  on  the  return 
of  Elisha  from  witnessing  his  predecessor's  ascent 
into  heaven  that,  on  the  request  of  the  people,  he 
healed  the  bitter  waters  of  the  fountain.  We  can 
testify  that  the  waters  are  "sweet  to  this  day." 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

TO  GILGAL  AND  THE  DEAD  SEA. 

^"he  fact  ought  not  to  be  overlooked  that  the 
^^  ancient  Gilgal,  the  place  of  the  first  encamp- 
ment of  the  Israelites  in  Canaan,  lies  in  the  vicinity 
of  Jericho.  The  site  has  been  discovered  on  a  slight 
elevation  about  a  mile  east  of  the  present  Jericho, 
at  a  place  which  bears  the  almost  similar  name  to 
the  original  one,  the  present  title  being  Jiljulieh. 
The  only  remains  apparent  on  the  surface  of  the 
ground  are  a  large  ruined  reservoir  by  the  side  of  a 
wide-spreading  tamarisk  tree,  and  several  rounded 
hillocks  of  artificial  construction.  In  some  of  these 
mounds  hewn  stone  pottery  and  flint  knives  have 
been  found.  It  was  here  the  Israelites  pitched  their 
tents  immediately  after  their  passage  over  Jordan  and 
set  up  the  twelve  memorial  stones  taken  from  the  bed 
of  the  river.  Here  also  "the  manna  ceased  on  the 
morrow  after  they  had  eaten  the  old  corn  of  the 
land,"  and  here  they  kept  the  first  Passover  for  four 
days  after  the  passage  into  the  promised  land.  Here, 
too,  the  tabernacle  was  set  up,  and  its  sacred  ark 
was  permitted  to  rest  until  removed  to  Shiloh.    Here 


GILGAL  AND  THE  DEAD  SEA  177 

Joshua  stood,  on  a  little  knoll,  when  he  saw  the 
Jehovah-angel,  the  captain  of  the  Lord's  hosts, 
stand  with  drawn  sword  over  Jericho.  Here,  after 
the  fall  of  Jericho  and  Ai,  Joshua  received  the 
Gibeonites  who  had  come  only  from  Gibeon,  some 
twenty-three  miles  distant,  and  yet  represented  them- 
selves, by  displaying  mouldy  bread,  worn-out  gar- 
ments and  broken  shoes,  as  coming  from  a  far  away 
country,  and  by  their  device  obtained  a  treaty  of 
peace  and  spared  lives. 

From  the  frequent  references  to  it  in  the  Script- 
ures Gilgal  must  have  been  quite  a  place.  In  the 
wars  of  the  Judges  and  of  Saul  we  find  the  people 
frequently  assembled  here.  Here  Samuel  judged 
Israel,  and  here  instructed  Saul  to  come  and  tarry 
seven  days  while  by  burnt  offerings  and  sacrifices 
he  would  find  out  God's  will,  but  upon  which  occa- 
sion Saul  himself  turned  prophet.  But,  as  we  have 
said,  nothing  now  remains  of  Gilgal  excepting  a 
few  heaps  of  ruins  and  a  portion  of  an  old  cistern 
or  reservoir. 

After  a  not  very  comfortable  night  at  the  hotel 
in  Jericho,  disturbed  by  the  screeching  of  jackals 
outside  our  windows  and  the  presence  of  more 
diminutive  animals  still  nearer  at  hand,  we  started 
early  in  the  morning  for  the  Dead  Sea.  The  dis- 
tance is  about  six  miles  to  the  nearest  point,  which 
is  at  the  northwest  corner  about  two  miles  west  of 
23 


178     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

the  mouth  of  the  Jordan.  By  and  by  our  road 
brought  us  off  the  more  solid  road  of  the  plain  and 
down  into  a  region  of  small  cones  with  frequent 
pitlike  valleys  between  them,  where  in  the  lowest 
places  water  was  seen  oozing  out  of  the  soil.  The 
ground  near  these  places  was  extremely  sticky,  and 
evidently  in  wet  weather  is  rendered  almost  impass- 
able. These  were  doubtless  the  "slime  pits"  in 
which  horses  are  known  to  have  sometimes  perished. 
Such  as  these  must  have  been  the  slime  pits  into 
which  the  king  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  fell,  as  we 
are  told,  when  he  was  fleeing  from  Chedorlaomer. 
At  length  we  reached  the  shore.  The  Dead  Sea ! 
It  was  a  wonderful  sight.  We  had  pictured  in  our 
mind,  from  what  we  had  read,  that  we  should  see 
a  desolate  shore,  a  moaning  body  of  dark,  disagree- 
able smelling  water,  and  barrenness  and  death  on 
every  hand.  But  we  found  it  quite  otherwise. 
There  was  a  beautiful  pebbly  beach,  easy  of  ap- 
proach, and  the  water  was  as  calm  and  smooth  as 
glass  and  transparently  clear.  It  was  a  really  lovely 
sheet  of  blue  water,  but  in  some  respects  as  deceptive 
as  beautiful,  for  when  we  stooped  down  and  tasted 
it  we  were  almost  stunned.  It  was  the  most  nau- 
seous, bitter,  stinging  dose  we  remember  to  have 
taken,  the  taste  remaining  on  the  tongue  for  an  hour 
or  more.  But  this  is  easy  to  be  accounted  for.  The 
water  holds  in  solution  more  than  five  times  as  much 


GILGAL  AND  THE  DEAD  SEA  179 

salt  as  the  water  of  the  ocean,  mingled  with  chlorides 
of  magnesium,  calcium,  potassium  and  other  mineral 
salts.  These  all  impart  to  it  an  extremely  bitter  and 
sickening  taste.  The  small  waves  that  break  on 
the  shore  roll  up  on  the  pebbly  beach  in  a  heavy 
foam  like  soap-suds,  and  when  you  put  your  hand 
in  the  water  it  feels  like  oil.  To  float  on  this  briny 
deep  requires  no  effort,  but  to  keep  the  feet  and 
lower  limbs  below  the  surface  requires  a  great  deal. 
Though  probably  all  in  the  party  had  heard  that 
the  water  of  the  Dead  Sea  would  bear  up  those  who 
bathed  in  it,  yet  we  believe  that  all  who  went  in 
were  surprised  at  its  extraordinary  buoyancy.  Yet 
one  ought  not  to  be  surprised  for  it  has  been 
the  subject  of  remark  by  all  travelers  who  have 
visited  the  Dead  Sea  from  the  time  of  Josephus 
down.  Josephus  even  exaggerated  the  facts,  as 
witness  the  following  description.  "It  bears  up  the 
heaviest  things  that  are  thrown  into  it,  nor  is  it 
easy  for  any  one  to  make  things  sink  therein  to  the 
bottom  if  he  had  a  mind  to  do  so.  Accordingly 
when  Vespasian  went  to  see  it,  he  commanded  that 
some  who  could  not  swim  should  have  their  hands 
tied  behind  them  and  be  thrown  into  the  deep,  when 
it  so  happened  that  they  all  swam  as  if  a  wind  forced 
them  upwards."  He  added  other  marvels  such  as 
that  "black  clods  of  bitumen,  resembling  in  shape 
headless  bulls"  would  rise  to  the  surface.     Speaking 


180     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

of  Vespasian's  unique  way  of  enjoying  himself.  Dr. 
Wm.  M.  Thomson,  the  author  of  The  Land  and  the 
Book,  says :  "It  must  have  heen  rare  sport  for  that 
rough  and  callous-hearted  emperor  to  see  the  victims 
tumbling  about  in  this  great  caldron  of  brine  in  help- 
less perplexity,"  and  adds  that  he  distinctly  remem- 
bers a  somewhat  similar  contest  he  had  the  first  time 
he  plunged  into  this  great  sea.  Dr.  Edward  Robi- 
son,  the  Palestine  explorer,  is  quoted  as  saying: 
"Two  of  us  bathed  in  the  sea ;  and  although  I  never 
swam  before,  either  in  fresh  or  salt  water,  yet  here  I 
could  sit,  stand,  lie,  or  swim  in  the  water  without 
difficulty."  Stevens,  in  his  Travels  in  Egypt  and 
the  Holy  Land,  tells  us  that  he  swam  a  horse  into 
it,  and  says  that  as  soon  as  his  body  touched  the 
water  he  was  afloat.  He  struggled  with  all  his  force 
to  preserve  his  equilibrium,  but  the  moment  he 
stopped  moving  he  turned  over  on  his  side  again, 
and  almost  on  his  back,  kicking  his  feet  out  of 
water  and  snorting  with  terror.  An  irritation  of  the 
skin  is  often  experienced  by  persons  who  bathe  here, 
but  this  is  probably  caused  chiefly  by  exposure  to  the 
fierce  rays  of  the  sun.  But  such  are  the  saponaceous 
properties  of  the  water  that  after  being  in  it  a  short 
time  one  feels  as  if  smeared  with  grease  or  soap, 
and  it  is  usual  to  take  a  bath  soon  after  in  the  Jordan 
in  order  to  get  rid  of  the  sensation.  Owing  to  the 
great  density  of  the  water  the  waves  do  not  rise 


GILGAL  AND  THE  DEAD  SEA  181 

as  high  under  a  storm  of  wind  as  in  other  seas,  but 
they  beat  with  greater  proportionate  force.  Lieu- 
tenant W.  F.  Lynch  compares  their  beat  upon  the 
sides  of  his  boats  to  the  heavy  strokes  of  a  hammer. 
The  great  weight  of  the  waves  is  given  as  the  reason 
why  boats  are  scarcely  found  at  the  Dead  Sea  at  all. 
If  any  are  built  they  can  bear  the  pounding  of  the 
leaden  waves  but  a  brief  time  and  break  to  pieces. 

Of  course,  the  presence  of  so  large  a  quantity  of 
foreign  matter  in  the  water  of  the  Dead  Sea  is 
easily  to  be  accounted  for.  The  lake  has  no  outlet. 
Mr.  Moody  used  to  ask  the  question :  "Why  is  the 
Dead  Sea  dead?"  and  then  answer  by  saying,  "Be- 
cause it  is  always  receiving  and  never  giving."  Now 
this  is  the  literal  fact.  It  has  no  outlet;  and  con- 
sequently the  water  which  flows  into  it  through  the 
Jordan  and  the  smaller  streams  along  its  shores  can 
pass  away  only  by  evaporation.  From  this  it  is 
plain  that  all  the  surplus  water  which  has  poured 
into  this  deep  basin  from  the  period  of  its  first 
formation  till  the  present  hour,  has  evaporated,  leav- 
ing in  the  sea  all  the  solids  which  it  held  in  solution. 

The  amount  of  water  which  has  thus  flowed  in  and 
evaporated  is  simply  tremendous.  It  has  been  calcu- 
lated that  the  average  fall  of  water  into  the  Dead 
Sea  is  more  than  six  millions  of  tons  daily,  the  whole 
of  which  prodigious  quantity  must  be  carried  off 
by   evaporation.     This   accounts    for   the   unusual 


182     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

quantity  of  solid  matter  which  this  body  of  water 
contains.  We  are  told  that  when  the  water  passes 
the  point  of  saturation,  deposits  will  begin  to  form 
on  the  bottom  and  the  bed  of  the  sea  to  fill  up.  It 
would  seem  to  require  no  unusual  amount  of  solid 
matter  in  such  a  quantity  of  water  daily  evaporating 
for  thousands  of  years  to  leave  the  result  as  we  find 
it ;  yet  we  must  add  to  the  consideration  the  fact 
that  a  large  number  of  mineral  springs  flow  into  the 
Jordan  and  some  into  the  Dead  Sea  itself.  More- 
over, on  the  southwestern  shore  of  the  sea  there 
is  a  mountain  of  rock-salt  seven  miles  long  and 
though  lightly  covered  with  rock  and  soil,  prevent- 
ing its  rapid  disintegration,  yet  the  winter  rains  do 
yearly  wash  a  considerable  portion  of  it  into  the  sea. 
The  immensity  of  the  evaporation  referred  to  is  due 
to  the  intensity  of  the  direct  heat  of  the  sun  during 
the  long  summer,  which  lasts  in  this  low  tropical 
chasm  from  March  until  November,  as  also  to  the 
reflected  heat  from  the  bare  and  lofty  masses  of  rock 
which  constitute  the  mountain-walls  on  either  side. 
The  sea  itself  is  about  forty-six  miles  long  and 
nearly  ten  wide  at  its  widest  part.  It  is  the  lowest 
body  of  water  in  the  world,  being  one  thousand  two 
hundred  and  ninety-two  feet  below  the  Mediterra- 
nean. Its  greatest  depth  is  about  one  thousand  three 
hundred  and  ten  feet  and  its  mean  depth  about  one 
thousand  feet.     It  lies  four  thousand  three  hundred 


GILGAL  AND  THE  DEAD  SEA  183 

feet  below  the  source  of  the  Jordan,  nearly  four 
thousand  feet  below  Jerusalem,  and,  as  some  one  has 
said,  "If  a  plummet  were  dropped  from  a  level  cor- 
responding with  the  summit  of  the  Mount  of  Olives 
to  the  deepest  part  of  the  sea  it  would  require  the 
playing  out  of  a  line  five  thousand  two  hundred  and 
thirty  feet  long."  As  we  have  said,  there  is  noth- 
ing to  compare  with  this  in  any  other  part  of  the 
world. 

As  is  well  known,  the  name  Dead  Sea  is  of  com- 
paratively recent  date,  post-biblical.  The  Hebrews 
called  it  the  Salt  Sea,  also  the  Eastern  Sea,  or  "the 
sea  of  the  plain."  In  the  aprocryphal  book  of 
Esdras  it  is  called  the  "Sodomitish  Sea."  In  the 
Talmud  also  it  is  called  the  "Sea  of  Sodom."  The 
Arabs  commonly  called  it  Bahr  Lut,  or  Lake  of  Lot. 
The  Greeks  and  Romans  spoke  of  it  as  the  "Sea  of 
Asphalt,"  but  finally  entitled  it  the  Dead  Sea,  which 
name  has  completely  superseded  all  others  in  the 
language  of  modern  literature,  and  will  probably 
continue  to  hold  its  pre-eminence,  notwithstanding 
the  superstitions  in  which  it  partly  originated.  For 
this  name  undoubtedly  grew  out  of  the  exaggerated 
stories  told  in  regard  to  the  sluggishness  of  the 
waters  and  the  deadly  nature  of  its  atmosphere — ■ 
such  as  that  birds  flying  over  it  would  instantly  drop 
dead,  due  to  the  pestiferous  influence  of  the  fumes 
rising  from  the  water — and  probably  partly,  too, 
from  its  supposed  connection  with  the  fate  of  Sodom 


184     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

and  Gomorrah.  Possibly  it  was  due  also  to  the  fact 
that  the  sea  is  really  dead,  in  the  sense  that  it  contains 
no  living  thing  of  any  kind.  This  is  now  a  well  ascer- 
tained scientific  fact,  but  it  has  always  been  known 
that  there  were  no  fish  or  other  animate  creatures 
in  it,  no  shells  or  corals  upon  its  shores.  Even  when 
fish  flow  in  from  the  Jordan  or  are  placed  in  the 
water  they  speedily  die.  It  is  in  fact  the  Dead  Sea, 
and  so  all  men  now  agree  in  calling  it  by  that  name. 
But  it  is  not  meant  to  imply  that  it  is  not  a  very 
beautiful  sea,  for  it  certainly  is  beautiful.  The 
mountains  of  Moab  on  the  east  and  of  Judea  on  the 
west  rise  to  a  height  of  not  less  than  four  thousand 
feet  and  form  a  charming  frame  in  which  this  trans- 
parent sheet  of  water  is  set  like  an  exquisite  picture, 
or  more  properly  spoken,  like  a  mirror.  And  the 
reflections  of  the  mountains  on  the  surface  of  this 
deeply-set,  heavily-framed  mirror  are  surpassingly 
beautiful.  The  Jordan,  with  its  banks  of  living 
green,  forms  a  charming  feature  at  the  north,  while 
the  heavy  evaporation  from  the  surface  of  the  water 
of  the  sea  gives  to  the  atmosphere  a  rarely  beautiful 
tint  of  purple  such  as  painters  are  wont  to  try  to 
reproduce.  Upon  the  whole,  and  in  the  face  of  all 
preconceived  unfavorable  impressions,  we  are  dis- 
posed to  rank  the  Dead  Sea  and  its  surroundings 
at  least  as  among  the  most  picturesque  and  interest- 
ing scenes  upon  which  we  have  been  permitted  to 
look.     There  is  but  one  Dead  Sea. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE   JORDAN   AND   THE   PILGRIMS'   BATHING-PLACE. 

aving  gathered  some  curious  pebbles  from  the 
shore  and  filled  our  cans  with  the  water,  we 
turned  our  faces  from  the  Dead  Sea  toward  the 
Jordan.  We  had  ridden  in  a  northeasterly  direction 
for  an  hour  when  we  came  to  the  so-called  first,  or 
"outer  banks,"  but  soon  descended  a  second  embank- 
ment and  reached  the  stream  itself  at  the  spot  known 
as  the  Pilgrims'  Bathing-place.  Of  course  we 
thought  of  "On  Jordan's  stormy  banks  I  stand,"  of 
the  river  as  symbolical  of  the  death  struggle,  but  as 
we  crossed — for  a  shilling — in  a  strong  Arab  boat 
it  did  not  seem  so  terrible,  save  at  times  the  flood  was 
so  rapid,  for  embossed  in  the  verdant  wild  growth 
of  foliage  it  was  indeed  a  vision  of  peace  and  beauty. 
We  shall  not  try  to  describe  it  at  any  length.  It 
must  be  seen.  It  certainly  has  charms  of  its  own. 
But  it  is  as  its  mighty  history  comes  crowding  into 
mind  that  one  becomes  deeply  impressed  with  the 
fact  of  being  there,  and  begins  to  appreciate  what  it 
means  to  be  privileged  to  stand  on  the  shores  of  a 
stream  where  such  marvelous  deeds  have  been  per- 
formed. 

24 


186    THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

Pilgrims  are  attracted  to  the  Jordan  chiefly  by  its 
associations  with  John  the  Baptist  and  the  baptism  of 
Christ,  though  which  if  any  of  the  several  bathing- 
places  now  pointed  out  was  the  location  of  Christ's 
baptism  no  one  can  decide.  To  be  baptized  in  the 
Jordan  even  as  early  as  the  time  of  Constantine  was 
esteemed  a  special  privilege  and  pilgrims  came  here 
for  the  purpose.  In  the  sixth  century  Antoninus 
records  that  he  found  a  great  concourse  of  pilgrims 
here,  and  says  that  both  banks  were  paved  with 
marble,  that  a  wooden  cross  stood  in  the  middle  of 
the  stream,  and  that  after  the  water  had  been  blessed 
by  the  priest  the  people  entered  it  each  wearing  a 
linen  garment  which  was  carefully  preserved  in  order 
afterward  to  be  used  as  a  winding-sheet.  In  the 
middle  ages  too,  baptisms  in  the  Jordan  were  fre- 
quent. Since  the  sixteenth  century  the  time  when 
the  great  pilgrimage  should  be  made  was  changed 
from  Ephiphany,  twelve  days  after  Christmas,  to 
the  pleasanter  season  of  Easter. 

The  coming  of  religious  pilgrims  is  of  course  not 
timed  to  any  one  season  of  the  year,  but  the  great 
day,  especially  for  many  among  the  thousands  of 
pilgrims  of  the  Greek  Church  who  come  to  Jerusa- 
lem each  year  to  spend  "holy  week,"  is  the  Monday 
after  Easter.  Lieutenant  Lynch  in  his  Narrative 
tells  us  that  his  party  reached  the  Bathing  Place, 
in  their  descent  of  the  Jordan,  on  the  night  of  Easter 


THE  JORDAN  187 

Sunday,  and  that  on  the  next  morning  they  witnessed 
the  arrival  of  the  pilgrims.  He  described  the  scene 
as  follows :  "In  the  wild  haste  of  a  disorderly  rout, 
Copts  and  Russians,  Poles,  Armenians,  Greeks  and 
Syrians,  from  all  parts  of  Asia,  from  Europe, 
from  Africa,  and  from  far-distant  America,  on 
they  came;  men,  women  and  children  of  every 
age  and  hue,  and  in  every  variety  of  costume; 
talking,  screaming,  and  shouting  in  almost  every 
known  language  under  the  sun.  Mounted  as 
variously  as  those  that  had  preceded  them,  many 
of  the  women  and  children  were  suspended  in 
baskets  or  confined  in  cages  (they  were  on 
camels)  and  with  their  eyes  strained  toward  the 
river,  heedless  of  all  intervening  obstacles,  they 
hurried  eagerly  forward,  dismounting  in  haste,  and 
disrobing  with  precipitation,  rushed  down  to  the 
bank  and  threw  themselves  into  the  stream.  Each 
one  plunged  himself  or  was  dipped  by  another,  three 
times  below  the  surface  in  honor  of  the  Trinity,  and 
then  filled  a  bottle  or  some  other  utensil  from  the 
river.  The  bathing-dress  of  many  of  the  pilgrims 
was  a  white  gown  with  a  black  cross  upon  it.  Most 
of  them,  as  soon  as  they  dressed,  cut  branches  from 
the  Angus  Castus  or  the  willow,  and  dipping  in  the 
consecrated  stream  bore  them  away  as  memorials 
of  their  visit.  In  another  hour  they  began  to  dis- 
appear, and  in  less  than  three  hours  the  trodden 


188     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

surface  of  the  lately  crowded  bank  bore  no  human 
shadow." 

We  cannot  forbear  to  quote  Dr.  Wm.  M.  Thom- 
son's description  of  a  different  band  of  pilgrims  he 
saw  on  another  occasion.  He  says :  "About  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning  there  was  a  buzz  in  the  camp, 
which  in  a  short  time  became  like  the  'noise  of  many 
waters,'  and  at  four  precisely  we  set  forward  toward 
the  Jordan,  going  to  the  southeast.  A  large  com- 
pany of  guards  went  before,  bearing  on  long  poles 
flaming  torches  made  of  turpentine  and  old  rags, 
which  threw  over  the  plain  a  flaring  light,  revealing 
double  ranks  of  armed  horsemen  on  either  side  of  the 
hosts,  careering  in  genuine  Arab  style,  and  plunging 
with  fearless  impetuosity  through  the  grass  and 
bushes  to  drive  out  any  Bedouins  that  might  be 
lurking  there.  The  governor,  with  his  body-guard 
brought  up  the  rear,  and  thus  we  were  defended  on 
all  sides.  Nor  was  this  caution  misplaced.  One 
poor  fellow  from  Poland,  having  fallen  behind,  was 
attacked,  robbed,  and  stripped  naked. 

After  two  hours'  ride  over  an  uneven  plain,  we 
reached  the  Jordan  as  the  sun  rose  over  the  moun- 
tains of  Moab.  Immediately  the  pilgrims  rushed 
headlong  into  the  stream,  men,  woman  and  children 
in  one  indiscriminate  mass.  The  haughty  Turk 
sat  upon  his  horse,  and  looked  with  scorn  upon  this 
exposure  of  the  'Christian   dogs.'     The  pilgrims, 


THE  JORDAN  189 

however,  were  highly  delighted  with  the  bath.  The 
men  ducked  the  women  somewhat  as  the  farmers 
do  their  sheep,  while  the  little  children  were  carried 
and  plunged  under  water,  trembling  like  so  many 
lambs.  Some  had  water  poured  on  their  heads  in 
imitation  of  the  baptism  of  the  Saviour,  for  it  is  part 
of  the  tradition  that  our  blessed  Lord  was  there 
baptized  and  the  ruins  of  an  old  convent  near  at  hand 
determined  the  exact  location  to  the  perfect  satis- 
faction of  the  devout  pilgrim.  The  Latins,  however, 
maintain  that  the  event  took  place  higher  up  the 
stream,  and  hence  they  bathe  there.  The  banks  are 
nearly  perpendicular,  and  very  muddy,  while  the 
current  is  astonishingly  rapid,  and  the  river  is  at 
least  ten  feet  deep.  It  requires  the  most  expert 
swimmers  to  cross  it,  and  one  less  skilled  would  be 
inevitably  carried  away,  as  we  had  melancholy  proof. 
Two  Christians  and  a  Turk  who  ventured  too  far, 
were  drowned  without  the  possibility  of  rescue,  and 
the  wonder  is  that  more  did  not  share  the  same  fate 
where  multitudes  were  bathing  at  once.  This  sad 
accident,  which  should  have  cast  a  shade  over  the 
whole  assembly,  produced  very  little  sensation  among 
the  pilgrims.  In  fact,  this  pilgrimaging  seems  to 
obliterate  every  benevolent  feeling  from  the  heart." 
Let  us  not  think  that  such  events  as  these  belong 
only  to  the  somewhat  remote  past.  Down  to  the 
present  time,  especially  among  the  orthodox  Greeks, 


190    THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

many  attach  great  importance  to  the  bath  in  Jordan 
as  the  termination  of  a  pilgrimage.  The  priests  wade 
into  the  water  breast-deep  and  dip  into  the  stream 
men,  women  and  children  as  they  approach  in  white 
garments.  Many  of  the  pilgrims  fill  jars  from  the 
river  to  be  used  for  baptisms  at  home.  Even  a  large 
number  in  our  company  of  American  Protestant 
Christians,  for  sentimental  reasons,  went  bathing  in 
the  Jordan,  and  we,  too,  were  among  the  many  who 
carried  back  bottles  of  water  to  be  used  in  baptisms 
at  home. 

Nor  do  we  think  such  sentiments  wholly  worthy 
of  criticism.  The  history  of  the  Jordan  has  been 
interwoven  with  the  story  of  Redemption  from  that 
memorable  day  when  Abraham  passed  over  into  the 
Land  of  Promise.  After  forty  years  of  wandering 
in  the  wilderness  Abraham's  descendants  here  wit- 
nessed a  mighty  miracle  in  their  behalf  when  God 
rolled  back  the  rushing  waters  "until  all  the  people 
had  passed  clean  over  Jordan,"  from  the  bottom 
of  which  they  carried  up  twelve  memorial  stones 
and  set  them  up  as  a  reminder  of  the  presence  of 
Jehovah  in  their  midst. 

Five  hundred  and  fifty  years  later  at  this  place 
was  one  whose  history  is  overflowing  with  interest 
to  every  lover  of  God's  Word — the  noble  Elijah. 
God  had  made  known  to  him  that  he  would  be  taken 
up  to  heaven  by  a  whirlwind.     Elisha  was  with 


THE  JORDAN  191 

him,  and  would  not  leave  him,  but  followed  him 
first  to  Bethel,  then  to  Jericho  and  at  last  across  the 
Jordan.  "And  Elijah  took  his  mantle  and  wrapped 
it  together  and  smote  the  waves,  and  they  divided 
hither  and  thither,  so  that  they  two  went  over  on  dry 
ground.  And  it  came  to  pass  as  they  still  went  on, 
and  talked,  that  behold  there  appeared  a  chariot  of 
fire,  and  horses  of  fire,  and  parted  them  asunder, 
and  Elijah  went  up  by  a  whirlwind  into  heaven." 
His  spiritual  father  and  friend  was  taken  away  from 
Elisha's  sight,  but  his  mantle  was  left  him,  and 
standing  by  the  bank  of  the  river  he  smote  the 
waters  with  it,  "and  they  parted  hither  and  thither, 
and  Elisha  went  over."  The  fifty  prophets  viewing 
from  afar  off,  beheld  this  token  of  God's  presence, 
and  they  said,  "The  spirit  of  Elijah  doth  rest  on 
Elisha,"  and  so  it  was.  It  was  to  this  same  stream 
Naaman,  the  leper,  came  and  washed  and  was  healed. 
It  was  here  Elisha  caused  the  ax  to  swim  at  the  time 
the  young  prophets  were  building  them  a  home. 
Yes,  and  later  still,  it  was  here,  too,  that  in  response 
to  John  the  Baptist's  mighty  calls  to  repentance  there 
"went  out  to  him  Jerusalem  and  all  Judea"  to  be 
"baptised  of  him  in  Jordan."  John's  eloquent,  burn- 
ing words,  some  thought,  answered  the  de- 
scription of  the  long  expected  Messiah.  But  he 
quickly  answered  that  he  was  not  the  Christ.  He 
said,  "I  am  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness, 


192     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord,  make  his  paths 
straigth,"  and  called  upon  them  to  bring  forth  fruits 
meet  for  repentance.  Thus  did  this  Voice,  the  ver- 
itable flaming  Elijah  of  the  new  dispensation,  cry  in 
the  wilderness  while  thousands  listened,  were  con- 
victed, repented  of  their  sins  and  were  baptized.  But 
one  day,  a  day  of  heaven  upon  earth  it  certainly  was, 
there  walked  among  the  throng  One  unknown  save 
to  John  himself;  and  how  tenderly  and  yet  strikingly 
he  introduced  him:  "Behold  the  Lamb  of  God! 
Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of 
the  world !"  And  there  stood  the  long  looked  for  and 
hoped  for  Messiah,  right  in  their  midst !  John  was 
the  index  finger  of  the  old  dispensation  pointing  to 
the  new.  Christ  had  come,  and  John  was  declaring 
him.  But  as  the  first  step  in  his  self-revelation  Christ 
asked  to  be  baptized  of  John  in  the  Jordan,  to  which 
he,  after  an  humble  expostulation,  consented,  and 
they  went  down  together  into  the  water.  "And 
Jesus,  when  he  was  baptized,  went  up  straightway 
out  of  the  water;  and,  lo,  the  heavens  were  opened 
unto  him,  and  he  saw  the  Spirit  of  God  descending 
like  a  dove  and  lighting  upon  him;  and  lo  a  voice 
from  heaven,  saying,  "This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in 
whom  I  am  well  pleased."  Here,  then,  somewhere 
on  the  margin  of  the  waters  where  we  were  standing, 
began  that  Divinely-planned  and  Christ-bidden  rite, 
so  sacred  and  so  beautiful,  the  observance  of  which 


THE  JORDAN  193 

has  since  spread  to  every  part  of  the  world.     If  the 

river  was  sacred  to  the  Israelites,  how  much  more 

reason  then  there  is  that,  while  yielding  not  to  any 

foolish  superstitions,  it  should  seem  forever  sweetly 

memorable  to  us. 
25 


B 


CHAPTER  XX. 

JOURNEYING  TOWARD  BETHLEHEM. 

ethlehem  of  Judea  the  city  of  David,  the  little 
town  in  which  our  Saviour  was  born,  is  located 
about  six  miles  south  of  Jerusalem  and  crowns  the 
summit  of  a  white  limestone  ridge  which  projects 
eastward  from  the  main  line  of  mountains  which 
runs  north  and  south.  For  long  years  our  dream  of 
dreams  had  been  that  some  day  our  feet  might  walk 
the  narrow  streets  and  our  eyes  behold  the  striking 
and  peculiar  scenes  that  abound  in  this  the  birthplace 
of  our  Saviour.  Now  that  we  were  in  Palestine,  no 
place  seemed  to  attract  us  so  strongly.  The  fascina- 
tion of  that  sweet  story  of  the  shepherds  watching 
their  flocks  by  night,  of  the  appearing  of  the  heavenly 
host,  of  the  sounding  of  the  angels'  song  of  "Peace 
on  earth,  good  will  toward  men,"  and  of  the  Holy 
Child  Jesus,  lying  in  a  manger,  was  upon  us.  The 
day  of  our  visit  had  arrived.  We  were  early  ready 
to  start,  and  equally  ready  to  use  the  words  of  the 
shepherds  who  on  the  first  Christmas  morning,  after 
the  angel  songs  had  hushed  and  the  heavenly  visitors 
had    disappeared    from    their    sight,    said    one    to 


TOWARD  BETHLEHEM  195 

another :  "Let  us  now  go  even  unto  Bethlehem  and 
see  this  thing  which  is  come  to  pass,  which  the  Lord 
hath  made  known  unto  us." 

It  was  in  the  early  morning  of  Saturday,  March 
15th,  1902,  in  company  with  a  large  party  of  equally 
enthusiastic  fellow  pilgrims,  that  we  took  carriages 
in  front  of  the  Hotel  du  Pare,  Jerusalem,  and  started 
for  the  historic  little  city  that  had  so  long  attracted 
us. 

A  sudden  change  had  come  over  the  weather, 
which  for  many  days  had  been  sunshiny  and  beauti- 
ful. Occasional  gusts  of  fine  rain  swept  over  the 
hills  and  the  air  was  cold ;  but  a  light  that  never  was 
on  land  or  sea  exalted  our  thoughts  and  a  heavenly 
warmth  filled  our  hearts,  and  we  were  happy  indeed 
in  the  prospect  before  us.  Out  by  the  Jaffa  Gate, 
passing  the  ancient  Tower  of  David,  we  descended 
into  the  Valley  of  Hinnom,  where  the  falsehearted 
among  the  ancient  Hebrews  used  to  offer  their  chil- 
dren to  Moloch,  as  the  heathen  Canaanites  had  done 
before  them.  The  memory  of  those  idolatrous  rites 
and  the  Divine  inflictions  of  punishment  which  fol- 
lowed their  exercise  has  been  so  enduring  that  the 
very  name  of  the  valley,  Ze  Ben  Hinnom,  or  Gehenna, 
signifies  hell,  according  to  both  Jewish  and  Mo- 
hammedan usage.  Passing  the  lower  end  of  the  so- 
called  Lower  Gihon,  or  Pool  of  the  Sultan,  and  the 
Montefiore  Cottage  Institution  for  Jews,  also  the 


196    THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

railway  station  and  the  Temple  Colony,  we  soon  be- 
gan to  ascend  the  Hill  of  the  Field  of  Blood,  better 
known  as  the  Hill  of  Evil  Counsel,  bringing  painful 
reminder  of  our  Lord's  betrayal.  The  first  title  is 
given  because  on  the  hillside  lies  the  tract  of  land 
purchased  by  the  priests  with  the  thirty  pieces  of 
silver  brought  back  to  them  by  the  remorseful  Judas ; 
and  the  second  derives  its  force  from  the  tradition 
that  the  summit  of  the  hill  was  crowned  by  the 
country  house  of  Caiaphas,  where  the  enemies  of 
Jesus  met  to  plan  his  death.  Near  by,  the  tree  upon 
which  Judas  is  said  to  have  hanged  himself  is  shown, 
all  its  weird  branches  extending  horizontally  toward 
the  east. 

Once  over  the  ridge,  and  the  beautiful  plain  of 
Rephaim  lay  spread  out  before  us  in  every  direction, 
covered  with  fields  of  growing  grain  and  olive  yards, 
and  flowers  everywhere.  It  was  a  charming  scene ; 
and  all  the  more  so  when  from  these  "mountains 
round  about  Jerusalem"  we  looked  backward  upon 
the  walls  and  towers  of  the  city  of  Zion. 

On  an  eminence  to  the  right  and  at  some  distance 
from  the  road  is  a  Greek  settlement,  called  Katamon. 
It  is  said  to  mark  the  location  of  the  house  of  the 
devout  Simeon  (Luke  2 :  25-32),  who  took  the  infant 
Saviour  in  his  arms  with  the  words  of  the  Nunc 
Dimittis.  The  place  consists  of  a  small  church  and 
the  summer  residence  of  the  Greek  Patriarch. 


TOWARD  BETHLEHEM  197 

A  little  farther  on,  at  the  left  of  the  road,  we 
halted  at  the  traditional  Well  of  the  Magi.  Accord- 
ing to  the  ancient  tradition,  the  Wise  Men  halted 
at  this  in  their  journey  to  Bethlehem  to  refresh 
themselves  by  a  draught  from  the  well ;  and  as  one 
of  them  bent  over  the  curb,  he  saw,  to  his  intense 
joy,  the  marvelous  star  whose  disappearance  they 
mourned,  reflected  in  the  quiet  water.  Eagerly 
they  turned  their  eyes  upward  to  see  it  shining  in 
the  sky,  the  sign  that  they  were  still  upon  the  path- 
way to  the  Infant  King;  and  so  they  gladly  took 
their  line  of  march  again. 

It  is  also  said  that  Mary  rested  here  on  her  way  to 
Bethlehem,  from  which  comes  its  ancient  name 
Kathisma,  or  Seat,  the  same  idea  also  being  pre- 
served in  the  modern  title  Bir  Kadismn,  or  the  Well 
of  the  Seat. 

At  the  summit  of  the  highest  point  between  Jerusa- 
lem, and  Bethlehem,  about  three  miles  from  each 
place,  we  came  to  the  large  Greek  Convent  of  Elijah. 
The  ridge  upon  which  it  is  located  is  known  as  Mar 
Elias,  or  Hill  of  Elijah,  and  has  the  local  tradition 
that  Elijah,  when  fleeing  from  the  infuriated  Jezebel, 
after  the  slaughter  of  the  false  prophets  of  Baal  on 
Mount  Carmel,  stopped  here  the  first  night.  It  is 
about  half  way  between  Jezreel  and  Beer-sheba. 
The  place  where  he  lay,  with  a  stone  for  his  pillow, 
is  still  shown.     A  great  boulder  opposite  the  monas- 


198    THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

tery  door  is  shown  in  which  there  is  a  deep  impres- 
sion which  is  said  to  have  been  made  by  the  prophet's 
foot.  On  the  left  of  the  road,  here,  there  is  a  well 
from  which  the  Holy  Family  is  said  once  to  have 
drunk. 

Passing  the  village  of  Bet  Jala,  with  its  white 
buildings  and  the  Roman  Catholic  settlement  of 
Tantur,  with  its  hospital,  house  for  the  brethren 
and  chapel,  we  soon  came  to  the  location  of  another 
quite  silly  tradition.  Our  guide  pointed  out  to  us 
what  he  entitled  the  Field  of  Peas.  It  is  so  called 
from  the  legend  that  Christ  once  asked  a  man  here 
what  he  was  sowing,  and  to  which  the  reply  was, 
"stones."  The  field  thereupon  produced  peas  of 
stone,  some  of  which,  it  is  said,  are  still  to  be  found 
on  the  spot.  It  is  unnecessary  to  add  that  we  did 
not  find  any! 

But  soon  we  arrived  at  an  exceedingly  interesting 
spot.  We  refer  to  the  tomb  of  Rachel,  one  of  the  few 
undisputed  sites  in  the  whole  of  Palestine.  Israel- 
ites, Christians  and  Moslems  have  but  one  tradition 
respecting  it,  and  all  agree  in  recognizing  it  as  the 
spot  where,  when  Jacob  journeyed  from  Bethel, 
Rachel,  his  fair  and  lovely  wife,  died  and  was  buried 
on  the  way  to  Ephrath,  which  is  Bethlehem  (Gen. 
35:16-19),  and  where  Jacob  set  a  pillar  on  her 
grave.  The  pillar  is  either  gone  or  covered  over 
by  the  present  tomb,  which  is  in  a  dome-covered 


TOWARD  BETHLEHEM  199 

building  with  a  large  square-shaped  one  in  front, 
forming  for  it  a  kind  of  arcade  or  vestibule.  The 
tomb  stands  at  the  junction  of  the  Hebron  and 
Bethlehem  roads  a  short  distance  north  of  Bethle- 
hem. It  is  visited  by  thousands  of  pilgrims  every 
year,  many  of  whom,  especially  women  of  the  Rus- 
sian, or  Greek  Church,  manifest  very  deep  emotion  as 
they  light  their  little  olive-oil  votive  lamps  and  shed 
tears  of  sympathy  over  the  last  resting  place  of 
Jacob's  loved  and  lovely  wife,  the  mother  of  the 
noble  and  revered  patriarch  Joseph. 

As  we  have  said,  the  road  here  divides,  one 
branch  leading  to  Hebron,  the  other  to  Bethlehem. 
Near  by  there  is  a  spot — not  visited  by  us  until  we 
were  returning — which  vividly  recalls  the  close  asso- 
ciation of  this  whole  region  with  the  life  of  David. 
Near  the  bend  of  the  road  to  Bethlehem  are  three 
cisterns,  dug  out  of  the  solid  rock.  The  place  is 
called  David's  Well.  The  place  recalls  the  story 
of  that  time  of  Philistine  warfare  when  the  enemy 
held  his  native  town  and  David  was  in  hiding,  possi- 
bly in  the  cave  of  Adullam,  ten  miles  west  of  Hebron. 
"And  David  longed  and  said,  Oh  that  one  would 
give  me  water  of  the  well  of  Bethlehem,  which  is 
by  the  gate !"  Three  of  his  men  broke  through  the 
Philistines,  brought  water  from  the  well  and  gave 
it  to  him.  Though  David  greatly  appreciated  the 
love  and  loyalty  of  his  men,  the  jeopardy  of  their 


200    THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

lives  had  been  so  great  that  he  considered  the  water 
as  the  price  of  blood  and  reverently  poured  it  out 
as  an  offering  before  the  Lord.  (2  Sam.  23  :  14-17.) 
No  mean  nature  could  have  commanded  such  devo- 
tion, and  no  one  but  a  great  soul  could  have  received 
it  as  David  did.  "It  is  such  acts  as  these,"  as  a 
recent  writer  has  said,  "that  show  the  man's  true 
greatness  and  reveal  to  us  David  as  he  really  was — 
impulsive,  fallible,  but  warm-hearted,  generous, 
brave  and  high-minded." 

Though  for  special  reasons  we  kept  the  main  road 
from  the  vicinity  of  Rachel's  Tomb  to  Hebron,  not 
visiting  Bethlehem  until  our  return,  yet  the  natural 
order  would  be  to  visit  Bethlehem  first  we  shall 
therefore  give  it  first  description. 

Our  manner  of  entrance  into  the  little  city  scarcely 
seemed  suitably  reverent,  for  our  Syrian  Jehu  cer- 
tainly "drove  furiously,"  and  not  a  few  of  the 
passers-by  had  to  dodge  with  utmost  rapidity  into 
deep  doorways  or  find  refuge  behind  the  corners 
of  the  streets.  Of  course  St.  Mary's  Church,  better 
known  as  the  Church  of  the  Nativity,  was  the  centre 
of  interest,  and  we  drove  at  once  to  the  large  open 
space  in  front  of  it. 

But  before  visiting  this  sacred  shrine  of  the  ages 
let  us  take  a  brief  glance  at  the  city  itself  and  its 
surroundings.  Bethlehem!  What  thoughts  filled 
our  minds  as  we  looked  upon  its  ancient  walls  and 


TOWARD  BETHLEHEM  201 

stone  houses,  its  curious  towers  and  balconies,  its 
narrow  winding  streets,  and  its  green  surrounding 
olive  yards  and  beautifully  terraced  gardens! 
Bethlehem !  The  home  of  Ruth,  the  birth-place  of 
David,  and  of  David's  greater  Son!  How  can  we 
write  our  feelings  as  we  looked  about  over  the  city 
and  its  surrounding  landscape  ?  Beautiful  for  situa- 
tion and  truly  blessed  art  thou,  "O  little  town  of 
Bethlehem,"  chosen  of  God  as  the  place  where  the 
Saviour  of  the  world  should  take  upon  himself  the 
robes  of  our  humanity! 
26 


B 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

JETHLEHEM,    WHERE   JESUS   WAS   BORN. 

ethlehem,  next  to  Jerusalem,  contains  more 
attractions  to  the  Christian  traveller  than  any- 
other  spot  on  the  globe.  The  little  city  which  at  a 
distance  presents  a  very  fine  and  imposing  appear- 
ance, contains  about  eight  thousand  inhabitants, 
nearly  all  of  whom  are  of  Christian  faith,  belonging 
to  the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches.  The  Latins  pos- 
sess a  large  Franciscan  Monastery  here,  with  a 
hospice,  a  boys'  school,  and  a  handsome  new  church. 
They  also  have  a  school  for  girls  and  a  convent 
belonging  to  the  Sisters  of  St.  Joseph.  In  the  south- 
western quarter  is  the  convent  of  the  French  Carme- 
lite Sisters,  with  a  church  and  a  seminary.  On  the 
hill  of  the  north  suburb  is  a  large  boys'  home  and 
industrial  school,  with  a  church,  and,  near  by.  a 
hospital  conducted  by  the  Sisters  of  Charity.  The 
Greeks  have  a  monastery,  near  the  Church  of  the 
Nativity,  two  churches,  a  school  for  boys  and  another 
for  girls.  Also  connected  with  the  Church  of  the 
Nativity  the  Armenians  have  a  monastery.  There 
is  also  a  branch  here  of  the  British  Foreign  Mis- 


BETHLEHEM  203 

sionary  Society,  with  a  school  for  girls  and  a  semi- 
nary for  female  teachers,  and  a  German  Protestant 
institution  containing  a  school  for  boys  and  one  for 
girls,  with  a  handsome  church.  The  houses  of  the 
city  are  well  built,  though  like  all  oriental  towns 
the  streets  are  narrow  and  dirty  as  well  as  steep  and 
rocky.  The  place  has  always  been  noted  for  its 
ruddy,  stalwart  men  and  beautiful  women  and  chil- 
dren; though  judged  by  our  American  standard 
we  could  hardly  term  many  of  the  women  we  saw 
as  beautiful.  But  how  full  of  thrilling  interest  was 
this  quiet  old  town  and  its  inhabitants !  Here  Ruth 
lived  in  poverty  and  in  wealth ;  here  David  as  a  lad 
walked  the  streets  and  led  his  father's  flocks  to  the 
hillside  pastures;  here  Samuel  came  with  the  anoint- 
ing oil;  yes,  and  best  of  all,  here  began  that  Life 
which  has  "lifted  empires  off  their  hinges  and  turned 
the  stream  of  centuries  out  of  its  course,  and  still 
governs  the  ages" — a  life  which  has  revolutionized 
the  world  and  transformed  humanity.  No  wonder 
that  everything  about  the  place  was  seen  as  in  a 
transfiguring  halo  of  glamor  and  beauty,  the  people 
more  attractive,  the  very  donkeys  and  camels  as  if 
they  had  just  come  from  the  east  with  their  gifts, 
and  the  palm  trees  as  if  offering  their  branches  to 
strew  the  holy  ground!  The  lowing  cattle  and 
meek-eyed  sheep  might  have  descended  from 
those  that  stood  around  the  lowly  manger  of  the 


204     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

infant  Redeemer,  and  every  shepherd  appeared  to 
have  a  mystic  character,  while  every  grey-bearded 
man  reminded  us  of  the  wise  men  who  saw  the  star 
in  the  east  and  were  guided  by  it  to  the  Saviour  of 
men.  O  Bethlehem !  Bethlehem,  thou  art  not  least 
among  the  cities  of  the  earth,  for  the  star  that  rested 
over  thee  has  shone  on  the  kingdom  of  men  the 
whole  world  round! 

But,  as  we  have  already  said,  the  Church  of  the 
Nativity  is  the  point  of  supreme  interest  in  Bethle- 
hem. It  is  an  enormous  pile  of  buildings  consisting 
of  the  Greek,  Latin,  and  Armenian  convents,  sur- 
rounding the  central  building,  or  church  proper, 
which  is  used  in  common.  It  certainly  looks  very 
Christian-like  and  amiable  to  see  the  three  convents 
of  these  opposing  sects,  whose  differences  are  as 
huge  as  their  edifices,  leaning  up  against  one  another 
around  the  birthplace  of  their  common  Saviour. 
But  one  must  go  inside  these  to  "behold,  how  good 
and  how  pleasant  it  is  for  brethren  to  dwell  together 
in  unity."  For  the  unity  is  not  there.  Instead 
of  finding  unity  he  will  find  Mohammedan  soldiers 
with  guns  and  bayonets,  smoking  nasty  nargilehs 
and  mingling  foul  odors  of  tobacco  with  the  fra- 
grance of  the  holy  incense,  encamped  within  the 
holy  edifice  to  keep  those  so-called  holy  brethren 
from  cutting  each  others'  throats.  But  taking  each 
convent  separately  we  found  the  holy  brethren  gentle, 


BETHLEHEM  205 

polite  and  quite  accommodating,  ready  to  show  us 
all  there  was  to  be  seen.  Within  the  Church  of  the 
Nativity  itself  each  sect  has  its  allotted  portion  of 
territory.  To  overstep  this  by  so  much  as  a  hair's 
breadth  would  be  liable  to  bring  on  instant  strife. 
The  Greeks  hold  the  Choir,  which  is  just  over  the 
grotto  of  the  Nativity.  The  Latins  have  a  right  of 
way  from  their  own  church  entrance  directly  across 
the  intervening  space  to  the  stairway  leading  down 
to  the  grotto,  passing  on  their  journey  the  Armenian 
chapel.  If  the  rug  spread  in  front  of  the  Armenian 
altar,  and  carefully  folded  under  so  as  to  cover  no 
more  than  its  allotted  space,  should  happen  to  en- 
croach by  ever  so  little  upon  the  Latin  right  of  way ; 
or  if  a  Latin  procession  in  walking  across  the  per- 
mitted path  should  happen  to  encroach  upon  a  pave- 
ment set  apart  to  the  Armenians,  a  tremendous  up- 
roar would  be  liable  immediately  to  result,  ending 
possibly  in  wounds  and  bloodshed. 

We  listened  with  sorrowful  wonder  to  stories  of 
this  kind  told  of  those  who  bear  the  Master's  name 
here,  and  so  sadly  misrepresent  him  as  to  bring  con- 
tempt upon  his  cause.  We  marvelled  that  in  Bethle- 
hem, in  the  very  church  of  Christ's  birth,  human 
ears  could  be  so  deaf  to  the  echoes  of  the  angelic 
Advent  song:  ''Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and 
on  earth  peace!"  May  the  time  soon  come  when 
this  state  of  things,  and  the  state  of  the  hearts  of 
men,  too,  shall  be  changed! 


206     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

The  oldest  part  of  the  structure  is  said  to  have 
been  erected  by  order  of  the  Emperor  Constan- 
tine  in  A.  D.  330,  and  is  claimed  to  be  the  most 
ancient  Christian  church  in  the  world.  It  is  an 
example  of  the  earliest  Christian  style  of  architec- 
ture, extremely  simple  but  grand.  It  has  undergone 
numerous  repairs  and  "restorations,"  but  from  the 
earliest  accounts  of  it  and  throughout  the  reports 
of  all  the  pilgrims  of  the  middle  ages  there  prevails 
so  remarkable  a  unanimity  regarding  both  the  situa- 
tion and  architecture  of  the  church  that  there  can 
be  little  doubt  that  it  has  never  been  seriously  altered. 
Here  on  Christmas  day,  in  the  year  1101,  Baldwin 
was  crowned  king.  In  the  same  century  the  Byzan- 
tine conqueror,  Manuel  Comnenos,  at  large  expense 
caused  the  walls  to  be  adorned  with  beautiful  gilded 
mosaics,  traces  of  which  may  still  be  seen.  In  1482 
the  roof,  which  had  become  dilapitated.  was  repaired, 
Edward  IV.,  of  England,  giving  the  lead  for  the 
purpose,  and  Philip  of  Burgundy  the  pine-wood  for 
the  beams.  The  wood-work  was  executed  by  arti- 
ficers of  Venice.  Near  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century  the  Turks  stripped  the  roof  for  lead  with 
which  to  make  bullets.  For  many  years  the  Greeks 
had  possession  of  the  building,  but  in  1852.  through 
the  intervention  of  Napoleon  III.,  the  Latins  were 
admitted  to  a  share  in  the  custody  of  the  church. 

In  the  crypt  underneath  the  Choir  is  the  central 


BETHLEHEM  207 

shrine  of  the  church,  the  ever  revered  Chapel  of  the 
Nativity.  It  is  reached  by  a  descent  of  fifteen  stone 
steps,  and  bears  now  little  resemblance  to  a  cave. 
It  is  an  oblong  room  thirty-eight  feet  long,  twelve 
feet  wide  and  ten  feet  high,  and  lighted  with  thirty- 
two  lamps.  The  floor  is  of  marble  and  the  walls 
are  lined  with  marble,  making  an  effort  to  imagine 
the  original  scene  a  very  laborious  one.  At  the 
eastern  end  of  the  chapel  there  is  an  altar  in  a  deep 
recess  in  the  wall,  and  under  the  altar,  sunk  into 
the  pavement  is  a  large,  brightly  polished  silver  star 
completely  encircled  by  an  inscription :  "Hie  de 
Virgine  Maria  Jesus  Christus  natus  est" — "Here 
Jesus  Christ  was  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary."  Just 
above  the  star  hang  fifteen  lamps,  kept  perpetually 
burning,  six  of  which  belong  to  the  Greeks,  five  to 
the  Armenians  and  four  to  the  Latins.  The  recess 
shows  a  few  traces  of  mosaics,  the  sacred  spot  hav- 
ing been  richly  decorated  as  early  as  in  the  time  of 
Constantine,  it  is  said,  and  even  among  the  Moslems 
was  held  in  high  repute  at  a  later  period.  In  the 
vault  of  the  crypt,  immediately  above  the  silver  star 
is  another  one  of  marble,  said  to  be  under  that  point 
of  the  heavens  at  which  the  star  that  guided  the  wise 
men,  stood  stationary  to  indicate  the  birthplace  of 
the  Saviour. 

Opposite  the  recess  of  the  Nativity  are  three  steps 
descending  to  the  so-called  Chapel  of  the  Manger. 


208     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

Here  is  the  traditional  location  of  the  manger  in 
which  the  infant  Saviour  was  laid.  The  cradle 
here  is  of  white  and  brown  marble.  It  will  be  re- 
membered, of  course,  that  the  City  of  Rome  claims 
the  possession  of  the  "genuine"  manger.  It  was 
said  to  have  been  carried  there  by  the  Empress 
Helena,  and  is  kept  in  the  church  of  Santa  Maria 
Maggiore.  In  the  same  chapel,  to  the  east,  is  the 
"Altar  of  the  Adoration  of  the  Magi,"  belonging 
to  the  Latins.  As  we  walked  toward  the  west  end 
of  the  chapel  we  observed  a  round  hole  in  the  pave- 
ment, which  has  been  given  the  title  of  the  Spring 
of  the  Holy  Family,  the  tradition  being  that  from 
this  basin  water  burst  forth  when  needed  for  the 
use  of  the  Holy  Family.  In  the  fifteenth  century 
the  absurd  tradition  was  invented  that  the  star  which 
had  guided  the  Magi  fell  into  this  spring,  and  that 
only  virgins  are  able  to  see  it. 

While  we  cannot  but  mourn  that  so  many  foolish 
superstitions  have  gathered  about  this  grotto  of  the 
Nativity,  yet  these  could  not  reduce  in  our  minds 
the  sense  of  strong  probability  that  this  is  the  stable 
in  which  Christ  was  born.  That  caverns  are  used 
as  stables  in  Palestine  we  had  abundant  proof.  That 
this  was  once  a  stable  seems  entirely  probable,  and 
that  it  was  attached  to  the  khan  in  Bethlehem  we 
see  no  reason  to  doubt.  The  hill  on  which  the  town 
is  built  is  so  small  that  the  position  of  the  village 


BETHLEHEM  209 

cannot  greatly  have  changed,  there  is  no  other  place 
presenting  even  an  intimation  of  rival  claims,  while 
all  tradition  and  the  united  assent  of  historical  and 
archaeological  experts  agree  in  pointing  it  out  as  in 
all  probability  the  true  location  of  the  spot  where 
Joseph  and  Mary  made  their  lodging  on  that  night 
when  the  angels  sang.  Concerning  few,  if  any 
other,  sites  does  Christian  tradition  extend  so  far 
back;  certainly  to  the  second  century.  It  rests  on 
the  authority  of  Justin  Martyr,  who  described  the 
place  as  a  cave  near  Bethlehem.  Origen,  early  in 
the  third  century,  affirms  the  fact  and  place  to  have 
been  a  matter  of  notoriety  even  among  the  heathen. 
Constantine,  as  we  have  seen,  with  the  same  con- 
fidence, ordered  the  erection  of  the  Church  of  the 
Nativity  here  early  in  the  fourth  century.  Jerome, 
born  340,  avouched  his  belief  in  the  genuineness  of 
the  site  by  making  his  abode  in  a  grotto  close  beside 
it,  where  he  lived  and  labored  on  his  great  work  of 
translating  the  Scriptures — the  able  translation  now 
known  as  the  Vulgate — and  where  he  died  Sept- 
ember 20th,  420.  Besides,  during  all  these  years 
men,  rich  and  poor,  learned  and  unlearned,  in  rags 
and  in  armor,  have  been  traversing  land  and  seas, 
coming  from  many  continents,  to  worship  here.  In 
such  a  place  it  means  much  to  be  able  to  say  that  the 
weight  of  historic  testimony  and  the  facts  of  location 
and  topography  make  the  genuineness  of  a  site 
27 


210     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

probable.  It  means  a  good  deal  also  to  have  the 
aesthetic  feeling  satisfied  that  the  site  meets  all  the 
essential  conditions.  This,  we  are  glad  to  say,  is 
true  regarding  Bethlehem  and  the  grotto  of  the 
Nativity.  It  is  impossible  to  behold  such  a  spot, 
that  during  eighteen  hundred  years  has  been  sacred 
to  millions  of  pilgrims  and  devotees,  and  toward 
which  such  unnumbered  multitudes  of  people  have 
looked  and  now  look  with  the  deepest  emotions  of 
reverence  and  gratitude,  and  not  be  greatly  moved. 
If  a  man  be  a  Christian,  and  if  he  have  in  his  soul 
even  a  little  of  that  sentiment  which  makes  the  poet, 
the  singer  or  the  seer,  it  is  certain  that  he  cannot 
stand  indifferent  at  the  shrines  of  the  Nativity,  be- 
hold the  endless  procession  of  pilgrims  prostrating 
themselves  before  them,  kissing  the  very  stones  that 
mark  them,  and  not  feel  subdued  and  reverent  and 
deeply  moved  with  a  sense  of  gratitude  to  God  for 
His  "unspeakable  Gift"  of  Him  who  came  to  be  the 
Saviour  of  the  world. 

But  possibly  before  leaving  the  crypt  under  the 
church  we  ought  to  give  brief  description  of  other 
grottoes  beneath  it,  besides  the  one  of  the  Nativity. 
Passing  through  a  narrow  tunnel  from  the  grotto 
of  the  Nativity  we  came  to  a  little  cave  or  chapel 
said  to  be  the  scene  of  Joseph's  vision,  (Matt. 
2 :  13),  where  he  was  commanded  by  the  angel  to 
take  the  young  child  and  his  mother  and  flee  into 


THE    GROTTO    OF    THE    NATIVITY. 


BETHLEHEM  211 

Egypt.  From  this  chapel  five  steps  descend  to  the 
so-called  Chapel  of  the  Innocents,  where,  according 
to  a  somewhat  recent  tradition,  Herod  caused  a 
number  of  children  to  be  slain  who  had  been  brought 
here  for  safety  by  their  mothers.  Turning  to  the 
left,  in  a  narrow  passageway,  we  came  to  the  niche 
of  the  so-called  Tomb  of  Eusebius,  who  is  said  to 
have  been  associated  here  at  Bethlehem  with  St. 
Jerome,  as  a  pupil — a  tradition  which  has  very  little 
probability  to  uphold  it.  But  a  little  further  on, 
in  a  larger  cavity  in  the  rock,  or  chapel  as  it  is 
entitled,  is  the  reputed  tomb  of  that  early  father 
of  the  church,  St.  Jerome.  On  the  opposite  side  of 
the  same  crypt  it  is  claimed  that  the  pious  Roman 
lady  Paula,  and  her  daughter  Eustochia  are  buried. 
We  are  told  that  Paula,  a  wealthy  and  noble  Roman 
lady  of  highest  rank,  who  had  become  a  pupil  to 
Jerome,  accompanied  him  from  Rome  on  a  pilgrim- 
age to  the  holy  places  of  Palestine,  and  when  he 
retired  to  a  cell  here  in  Bethlehem,  and  presided 
over  a  monastery,  she  became  his  patron  and  the 
head  of  a  nunnery  and  hospital  near  by,  and  spent 
her  life  in  devotional  practices.  Through  another 
short  subterranean  passageway,  we  soon  came,  a 
little  farther  to  the  north,  to  the  large  Chapel  of  St. 
Jerome.  It  is  here  that  he  is  said  to  have  dwelt  and 
to  have  written  his  works.  It  was  originally  hewn 
out  of  the  rock,  but  is  now  lined  with  walls  and  has 


212     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

a  little  window  which  looks  out  toward  the  cloisters. 
There  is  a  very  excellent  painting  here,  on  one  of 
the  walls,  representing  Jerome  with  a  Bible  in  his 
hand.  The  scene  of  one  of  the  finest  and  most 
impressive  paintings  we  saw  in  Rome,  is  of  St. 
Jerome  taking  his  last  communion  on  his  death-bed 
in  this  underground  chapel.  It  is  an  altar-piece  in 
the  Vatican,  by  Domenichino,  and  is  ranked  next 
to  Raphael's  great  masterpiece,  "The  Transfigur- 
ation. 

We  think  it  very  fitting  that  the  great  work  which 
Jerome  did,  of  translating  the  Bible  into  the  Vulgate, 
and  which  thus  gave  the  gospel  to  so  many  millions 
of  people,  should  have  been  accomplished  here  at 
Bethlehem  so  near  the  spot  where  Jesus  was  born. 
May  the  time  soon  come  when  the  Bible  shall  be  in 
every  hand,  loved  by  every  heart,  and  the  saving 
mission  which  Christ  came  to  earth  to  accomplish, 
which  began  here  at  Bethlehem,  and  culminated  at 
Calvary,  shall  be  so  truly  fulfilled  that  he  shall  see  of 
the  travail  of  his  soul  and  be  satisfied !  Yes,  and 
may  none  of  us  idly  wait  for  that  good  time  to  come, 
but,  joining  hearts  and  hands,  may  we  diligently, 
constantly,  faithfully  labor  and  hope  and  pray,  and 
pray  and  hope  and  labor,  doing  our  full  part  to  help 
bring  in  that  promised  day! 

As  we  were  leaving,  on  the  outskirts  of  Bethle- 
hem, we  passed  through  the  fields  of  Boaz,  where 


BETHLEHEM  213 

Ruth  gleaned  after  the  reapers.  The  beautiful  and 
touching  story  of  womanly  devotion  has  consecrated 
the  fertile  field  and  it  was  not  difficult  to  restore  the 
scene  of  three  thousand  years  ago.  That  beautiful 
idyl  of  the  book  of  Ruth,  which  forms  an  introduc- 
tion to  the  history  of  David,  has  become  a  classic  for 
all  time,  and  Ruth  and  Naomi  will  live  as  long  as  the 
stars  shine  on  the  slopes  of  Bethlehem. 

Over  these  same  fields  and  the  hills  beyond  David 
wandered  when  a  young  lad,  after  his  father's  sheep, 
and  we  passed  just  such  a  bare-footed  shepherd  boy 
standing  under  the  shade  of  a  tree  while  his  sheep 
and  goats  grazed  near.  For  the  youth  of  Bethlehem 
still  lead  their  flocks  to  pasture,  just  as  the  sons  of 
Jesse  did  in  the  far  distant  past.  This  is  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  regions  in  all  the  hill  country  of 
Judea,  and  the  scenes  with  which  it  is  associated 
have  invested  it  with  a  halo  which  grows  the  brighter 
as  the  centuries  pass.  These  rocks  and  fields  and 
hills  shall  be  holy  ground  as  long  as  the  sun  shines 
and  the  rivers  run  into  the  sea. 

Near  the  fields  of  Boaz  is  pointed  out  the  hillside 
where  the  shepherds  were  watching  their  flocks  on 
the  memorable  nativity  night,  when  the  Judean  air 
was  suddenly  laden  with  melody  such  as  earth  never 
heard  before,  when  the  first  song  of  redemption 
broke  the  midnight  stillness,  when  these  very  peaks 
echoed  the  angelic  shout  of  "Glory  to  God  in  the 


214    THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

highest,  and  on  earth  peace,  good  will  toward  men !" 
What  a  scene  it  must  have  been  to  those  startled 
shepherds  as  on  the  memorable  night  they  reclined 
upon  the  ground,  their  flocks  sheltered  perhaps  under 
some  olive  trees,  to  have  seen  the  approach  of  the 
angel  from  out  the  open  door  of  heaven,  and  to  have 
listened  to  the  glad  message :  "Fear  not,  for, 
behold,  I  bring  you  good  tidings  of  great  joy,  which 
shall  be  to  all  people :  for  unto  you  is  born  this  day 
in  the  city  of  David,  a  Saviour,  which  is  Christ  the 
Lord!" 

One  returns  from  Bethlehem  with  a  feeling  more 
akin  to  complete  satisfaction  than  he  finds  anywhere 
else  in  Palestine,  unless  perhaps  it  be  in  Nazareth, 
Christ's  childhood  home,  or  from  about  the  Lake  of 
Galilee,  so  intimately  associated  with  his  earthly 
life  and  ministry.  It  is  a  place  which  stirs  one's 
holiest  memories.  Almost  every  event  connected 
with  its  history  is  remembered  with  happy  associa- 
tions. There  never  was  a  star  that  shone  on  earth 
with  light  so  blessed  as  that  which  guided  men  to 
the  manger.  There  never  was  a  song  so  sweet  as 
the  angels  sang  that  natal  night.  Well  does  a  recent 
writer  express  the  feelings  of  the  devout  Christian 
who  is  permitted  to  come  under  the  spell  of  Bethle- 
hem's sacred  associations. 

"Here  he  feels  new  joy  in  the  fulfilment  of  the 
promise  which  the  prophets  longed  for  but  their 


BETHLEHEM  215 

earthly  eyes  saw  not.  Here  the  songs  he  loves  take 
on  new  sweetness.  And  how  many  of  them  belong 
to  Bethlehem !  From  Handel's  triumphant  chorus, 
'For  unto  us  a  Child  is  born,'  to  the  latest  and 
simplest  Christmas  carol;  and  from  the  good  old- 
fashioned,  time-honored  hymn,  'While  Shepherds 
watched  their  flocks  by  night,'  to  Phillips  Brooks' 
exquisite  'O  Little  town  of  Bethlehem,'  they  ring 
in  his  ears  and  give  fit  expression  to  his  feelings. 
And  what  but  poetry  and  music,  consecrated  by  the 
love  of  Christian  hearts,  can  worthily  celebrate  this 
spot?  For  here,  perhaps,  in  the  very  Shepherds' 
field  that  is  pointed  out,  and  certainly  within  the 
range  of  vision  as  one  stands  there  and  looks  about 
was  heard  the  song  of  the  angels  announcing  the 
Saviour's  birth.  No  event  in  all  earth's  history 
was  so  fit  to  be  introduced  with  song.  A  perfect 
burst  of  melody  accompanies  it  in  the  Gospels. 
There  is  a  quartette  of  earth  and  a  chorus  of  heaven. 
Zacharias  sings  his  Bcncdictus,  and  Simeon  his  Nunc 
Dimittis ;  Elizabeth  breaks  forth  with  her  Beatitude, 
and  Mary,  clear  as  the  lark,  sings  her  Magnificat. 
When  else  on  earth  were  ever  heard  four  voices 
such  as  these,  singing  each  its  solo  blending  with 
the  rest  into  one  unapproachable  anthem?  And 
above  them  all  bent  the  angels  with  their  Gloria. 
One  reads  of  this  in  other  places ;  he  hears  it  in  his 
heart  at  Bethlehem." 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE  POOLS  OF  SOLOMON  AND  THE  ROAD  TO  HEBRON. 

r^r  hough  we  gave  the  account  of  our  visit  to 
Vi*  Bethlehem  first,  it  was  not  until  on  our  way 
back  from  Hebron  that  we  visited  the  little  city 
where  our  Lord  was  born.  From  Rachel's  Tomb, 
about  a  mile  north  of  Bethlehem,  we  kept  the  road 
to  the  right  and  went  on  straight  toward  Hebron. 
A  short  distance  south  of  Rachel's  Tomb  a  road 
turns  off  to  the  right  which  leads  to  the  very  pretty 
Christian  village  of  Bet  Jala,  which  is  thought  to 
be  the  Zelzah  of  the  Old  Testament,  where  Samuel 
directed  Saul  after  he  had  anointed  him  to  be  king. 
The  words  of  Samuel  on  this  occasion  were :  "When 
thou  art  departed  from  me  to-day  then  thou  shalt 
find  two  men  by  Rachel's  sepulchre  in  the  border 
of  Benjamin  at  Zelzah ;  and  they  will  say  unto  thee, 
the  asses  which  thou  wentest  to  seek  are  found ;  and, 
lo,  thy  father  hath  left  the  care  of  the  asses,  and 
sorroweth  for  you."  This  verse  locates  Rachel's 
Tomb  as  here  described,  and  the  location  of  the 
tomb  fixes  Zelzah,  which  is  just  a  mile  due  west 
from  the  tomb,  and  about  two  miles  from  Bethlehem, 


THE  POOLS  OF  SOLOMON  217 

on  the  opposite  slope  of  the  valley.  The  name 
Zelzah  means  "noontide,"  and  as  we  looked  upon 
the  village,  surrounded  by  vineyards,  olive  orchards 
and  almond  trees,  we  recognized  the  fitness  of  the 
title.  The  village  is  a  good  sized  one,  the  popu- 
lation being  about  four  thousand,  and  is  said  to  be 
one  of  the  cleanest  places  in  Palestine.  This  is 
accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  it  is,  as  we  have  said, 
a  Christian  village.  Most  of  the  inhabitants  belong 
to  the  orthodox  Greek  Church;  but  there  are  also 
about  two  hundred  Protestants,  with  a  very  pretty 
little  church  and  school,  and  about  seven  hundred 
Roman  Catholics,  with  a  church  and  two  schools. 

A  little  further  on  we  crossed  the  upper  end  of 
the  valley  of  Elah,  into  which  valley,  but  a  short 
distance  down  toward  the  west,  David,  when  but  a 
youth,  was  sent  by  his  father  to  carry  corn  and  bread 
to  his  three  brothers  who  were  in  the  army  of  Saul. 
It  was  there  he  witnessed  the  sad  state  of  affairs 
as  Goliath  defied  the  armies  of  Israel.  David  knew 
little  about  using  such  an  armor  as  Saul  buckled 
upon  him ;  but  he  did  know  how  to  sling  stones  out 
of  a  shepherd's  sling.  He  also  recognized  that  it 
was  not  alone  the  armies,  but  the  God  of  the  armies 
of  Israel  the  Philistines  were  defying.  Therefore, 
relying  upon  God,  he  went  down  into  the  valley, 
chose  five  smooth  stones  out  of  the  dry  bed  of 
the  brook,  put  them  into  his  shepherd's  bag,  and 
28 


218    THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

drawing  near  to  the  vaunting  giant  of  Gath,  ex- 
claimed: "Thou  comest  to  me  with  a  sword 
and  a  spear,  and  with  a  shield;  but  I  come  to 
thee  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  the  God  of 
the  armies  of  Israel,  whom  thou  hast  defied,"  and 
in  that  name  he  brought  deliverance  to  Israel  by  a 
well-directed  stone  from  his  sling.  This  scene  was 
a  number  of  miles  down  the  valley,  to  the  west. 

This  country  through  which  we  were  passing  is 
a  portion  of  what  is  known  as  "the  hill  country  of 
Judea."  The  country  seems  poor  and  desolate ;  but 
it  is  wonderful  to  see  how  the  land  is  fairly  wrested 
from  the  wide-spread  desolation.  By  retaining- 
walls  and  upon  rude  terraces  the  soil  is  held  at  every 
available  spot,  and  much  space  for  cultivation  is 
thus  obtained.  In  the  valleys  were  many  vineyards, 
with  large  bare  vines,  but  which  a  month  later  would 
probably  be  fresh  and  trim.  Fig  trees  stood  gaunt 
and  bare  every  here  and  there  along  the  way,  but 
just  beginning  to  show  their  tender,  bursting  buds, 
making  it  evident  that  nature  was  waking  up,  even 
here  in  this  elevated  region.  The  wild-flowers  had 
already  opened  their  eyes.  Everywhere  brilliant 
anemones,  "the  lilies  of  the  field"  of  the  Bible,  and 
tiny  wild  flowers  of  every  hue  were  blooming. 
Indeed,  the  wild  flowers  in  every  part  of  Palestine 
never  ceased  to  excite  our  wonder  and  delight,  by 
their  exquisite  colors  and  immense  variety. 


THE  POOLS  OF  SOLOMON  219 

An  hour  or  more  beyond  Rachel's  Tomb,  at  a 
distance  of  about  ten  miles  from  Jerusalem,  a  sharp 
turn  in  the  road — which,  however,  in  this  hill  coun- 
try is  a  constant  occurrence — brought  us  to  the  head 
of  a  narrow  valley  and  opposite  a  great,  square 
castellated  structure  with  towers  at  each  corner. 
Here,  just  below  it,  lying  one  above  the  other  in  the 
sloping  valley,  are  the  celebrated  Pools  of  Solomon. 
The  fortress-like  building  is  called  Kal  at  el-Burak, 
or  "The  Castle  of  the  Pools."  In  its  present  form 
it  is  known  to  have  been  erected  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  some  thinking  that  it  was  intended  for  a 
khan  or  a  garrison;  but  there  is  little  doubt  that  it 
was  built  simply  as  a  means  of  protection  for  the 
pools  from  the  wild  Bedouins. 

To  the  west  of  the  castle,  about  three  hundred 
and  thirty  feet  away,  on  the  hillside,  is  a  small  door, 
like  the  opening  to  a  cave.  Within  this  door  a  stair- 
way leads  down  to  a  vaulted  chamber  in  which  is 
the  so-called  "Sealed  Spring."  The  water  from 
this  spring  is  conducted  to  a  fountain-tower  just 
above  the  first  pool,  part  of  it,  however,  flowing  into 
an  old  conduit  which  passes  the  pools.  The  spring 
is  supposed  to  be  identical  with  the  "Spring  shut  up" 
or  "Sealed  Fountain,"  referred  to  in  Solomon's 
Song,  fourth  chapter  and  twelfth  verse.  There  is 
a  second  fountain  a  little  south  of  the  castle  which 
also  flows  into  the  fountain-tower. 


220    THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

These  so-called  Pools  of  Solomon  are  three  im- 
mense rectangular  reservoirs,  cut  out  of  the  rock 
or  walled  in  by  masses  of  solid  masonry,  lying  one 
above  another  in  a  small  valley  that  slopes  down 
past  the  Frank  Mountain  and  toward  the  Dead  Sea. 
The  valley  is  quite  narrow  and  is  called  the  Wady 
Urtas.  The  pools  are  among  the  most  remarkable 
remains  of  antiquity  in  all  of  Palestine.  They  are 
remarkable  alike  for  the  labor  and  expense  that  must 
have  been  employed  in  their  construction  and  for 
their  great  durability.  The  three  pools  do  not  lie 
exactly  one  above  another,  though  very  nearly  so. 
From  them  water  was  carried  away  .toward  Jerusa- 
lem in  two  conduits,  traces  of  which  we  saw  every 
here  and  there  along  the  road  as  we  came.  Many 
of  the  best  authorities  agree  that  in  all  probability 
the  pools  were  constructed  by  Solomon  and  that  they 
were  used  as  the  source  of  not  a  little  of  the  water 
of  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  especially  for  the 
temple  uses.  There  is  a  fountain  in  the  Temple 
Area  and  cisterns  beneath  it  which  are  believed  to 
have  been  supplied  from  this  source.  The  pools 
have  recently  been  restored,  so  far  as  they  needed 
restoration,  and  it  is  an  interesting  fact  that  once 
again,  through  recent  action  of  the  Sultan  of  Turkey, 
they  are  being  used  to  supply  the  city  of  the  Great 
King  with  much  needed  water. 

Some  believe  that  Solomon  had  a  summer  palace 


THE  POOLS  OF  SOLOMON  221 

and  extensive  gardens  here  where  the  springs  are 
located.  Josephus  speaks  of  Solomon  taking  a 
morning  ride  out  to  his  gardens,  and  it  is  thought 
that  these  are  the  gardens  and  the  pools  to  which 
Solomon  refers  when  he  says  in  Ecclesiastes,  "I 
made  me  gardens  and  orchards  and  I  planted  trees  in 
them  of  all  kind  of  fruits ;  I  made  me  pools  of  water, 
to  water  therewith  the  wood  that  bringeth  forth 
trees." 

If  the  gardens  were  here  then  all  traces  of  them 
have  long  ago  disappeared,  but  the  pools  are  still 
intact,  and  are  of  magnificent  proportions.  The 
upper  one  is  three  hundred  and  thirty  feet  long, 
two  hundred  and  thirty-three  feet  wide  and  twenty- 
five  feet  deep.  It  is  dug  down  into  the  solid  rock 
and  enclosed  at  the  lower  end  by  masonry  heavily 
buttressed.  A  stone  stairway  descends  into  it  at 
the  southwest  corner.  The  second  or  central  pool, 
one  hundred  and  sixty-five  feet  further  down  the 
valley,  is  four  hundred  and  twenty-three  feet  long, 
two  hundred  and  thirty-three  feet  wide  and  thirty- 
eight  feet  deep.  It  is  almost  entirely  hewn  in  the 
solid  rock  and  stairs  descend  into  it  at  both  the 
northwest  and  northeast  corners.  The  lower  pool, 
two  hundred  and  seven  feet  below  the  second,  is  the 
finest  of  the  three.  It  is  five  hundred  and  eighty- 
two  feet  long,  one  hundred  and  forty-eight  feet 
wide  at  the  upper  and  two  hundred  and  seven  feet 


222     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

wide  at  the  lower  end,  and  is  forty-eight  feet  deep. 
It  is  partly  hewn  in  the  rock  and  partly  lined  with 
masonry. 

The  aggregate  surface  of  these  three  pools  is  about 
six  and  one- fourth  acres,  and  their  immense  capacity 
may  be  realized  when  we  know  that  if  thrown  into 
one  they  would  make  a  body  of  water  six  and  one- 
fourth  acres  in  extent  with  an  average  depth  of 
thirty-eight  feet.  Think  of  the  immense  labor  that 
must  have  been  required  for  their  construction,  as 
well  as  the  skill  which  has  enabled  them  to  stand 
almost  complete  and  entire  to  the  present  day.  The 
glory  of  the  olden  days  of  Israel  arose  before  our 
minds  in  the  presence  of  these  mightly  works  as 
nowhere  else. 

Our  journey  from  here  on  was  very  picturesque 
winding  in  and  out  among  the  valleys  and  over  the 
hills,  past  olive  yards,  fig  orchards  and  growing 
fields  of  grain,  and  with  occasionally  a  fountain 
issuing  out  of  the  hills  and  flowing  into  the  valleys 
adding  beauty  and  fertility  to  the  soil.  We  were 
now  manifestly  in  a  "land  of  brooks  of  water,  of 
fountains  and  depths  of  water  that  spring  out  of  val- 
leys and  hills."  To  the  superficial  observer  there 
may  be  no  beauty  as  he  looks  out  upon  the  rough- 
ness of  the  rock  surface  of  these  hills,  especially  in  its 
present  wretched  desolation  and  neglect  under  a 
government  that  crushes  all  the  hopes  of  industry; 


THE  POOLS  OF  SOLOMON  223 

but  as  we  looked  upon  the  brooks  and  springs  of 
water,  at  the  singular  variety  of  the  surface  of  the 
land,  at  olive  groves  and  vineyards,  at  glens  and 
hills  and  fertile  flowery  plains,  and  many  other 
pleasing  features,  we  could  not  fail  to  perceive  how, 
in  its  palmy  days,  when  these  heights  were  crowned 
with  foliage,  the  hillside  with  flocks  and  the  fields 
with  grain,  Palestine  must  have  been  indeed  a 
"goodly  land,"  "flowing  with  milk  and  honey." 

About  five  miles  north  of  Hebron  we  passed,  on 
our  right,  the  ruins  of  ancient  Beth-zur,  called  by  the 
natives  Biet  Sur,  one  of  the  fortified  places  which 
Rehoboam  strengthened  in  order  to  defend  the  ap- 
proach to  Jerusalem  in  this  direction.  (2  Chron. 
11:7).  Near  by  is  the  famous  spring  called  Ain 
ed-Dirweh,  the  enclosure  of  which  is  built  of  fine 
regular  blocks  of  stone.  Above  it  are  a  Moham- 
medan house  and  praying  place.  In  ancient  times 
it  was  believed  that  Philip  baptized  the  eunuch  of 
Ethiopia  here,  though  the  scene  of  the  baptism  is 
now  placed  at  Ain  el-Haniyeh,  or  Philip's  Well,  on 
another  road,  about  five  miles  west  of  Bethlehem. 

A  short  distance  further  we  passed,  on  our  left, 
the  good-sized  Mohammedan  village  of  Halhul. 
This  place  is  referred  to  in  Joshua  15:58.  A 
mosque  just  outside  the  town  is  built,  according  to 
Mohammedan  tradition,  over  the  grave  of  the 
prophet  Jonah.     Several  other  spots  in  Palestine, 


224     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

however,  claim  the  distinction  of  being  the  burial 
place  of  Jonah.  Some  of  the  later  Jewish  writers 
mention  a  tradition  that  the  prophet  Gad,  of  David's 
time  also  was  buried  here.     (2  Sam.  24:11.) 

A  little  further  on  about  two  miles  from  Hebron, 
we  passed,  to  the  left  of  the  road,  a  large  building 
called  Haram  Ramet  el  Khalil,  or  the  Shrine  of 
Abraham.  The  south  and  west  walls  only  are  pre- 
served, the  south  one  being  two  hundred  and  thir- 
teen feet  long  and  the  west  one  one  hundred  and 
sixty  feet,  and  only  a  few  courses  of  the  stones  are 
visible.  Some  of  the  blocks  are  immense,  being 
from  ten  to  sixteen  feet  long,  and  so  finely  jointed 
that  no  mortar  was  needed.  In  the  northwest  angle 
of  the  interior  there  is  a  cistern.  What  purpose  the 
building  served  or  whether  it  was  ever  completed 
no  one  seems  able  to  tell.  There  is  a  Jewish  tradi- 
tion that  the  Grove  of  Mamre,  where  Abraham  met 
the  angels,  is  here.  About  two  hundred  feet  to  the 
east  are  the  ruins  of  a  large  church,  probably  erected 
by  Constantine.  Near  it  are  two  oil-presses  in  the 
rock,  and  a  little  further  south  is  shown  a  shallow 
cistern  which  the  natives  call  the  Bath  of  Sarah. 
Of  course,  as  we  near  Hebron,  we  are  getting  quite 
into  the  family  life  of  Abraham  and  his  household ! 

A  few  minutes  further,  to  our  right,  we  passed 
the  ruins  of  a  village  called  Khirbet  en-Nasara,  or 
The  Ruin  of  the  Christians.  Here  we  were  at  the 
head  of  the  valley  of  Eshcol  and  could  look  down 


THE  POOLS  OF  SOLOMON  225 

the  whole  length  of  it.  Now,  as  in  the  time  when 
the  Hebrew  spies  were  sent  over  here,  into  the 
Promised  Land,  and  cut  a  great  bunch  of  grapes 
as  a  sample  of  the  fertility  of  the  land,  this  valley 
is  famous  for  its  vineyards  and  the  abundance  of 
its  grapes  of  great  size.  We  found  the  whole  val- 
ley almost  given  up  to  the  cultivation  of  the  fruit  of 
the  vine,  and  its  vineyards  were  a  remarkable  sight. 
The  vines  are  evidently  very  old,  many  of  them 
being  from  four  to  six  inches  in  diameter.  They 
have  a  way  of  cutting  them  back  so  that  the  stocks 
look  like  the  trunks  of  small  trees.  Others  are 
trained  up  to  stakes  or  on  dwarf  trees  that  are  per- 
mitted to  grow  in  the  vineyards.  One  of  the 
branches  of  these  vines  with  a  large  cluster  of  grapes, 
would  now  require,  we  believe,  as  in  the  days  of  the 
spies,  two  men  to  carry  the  distance  those  men  had  to 
go,  away  over  to  the  wilderness  of  Paran. 

A  mile  or  more  down  the  valley,  the  plain,  or  more 
properly  speaking,  the  valley  of  Mamre  comes  in 
toward  the  west  and  forms  a  junction  with  the  valley 
of  Eshcol.  Near  this  junction,  a  short  half  mile 
further  down  the  united  valleys,  we  came  to  the 
city  for  which  we  had  set  out — one  of  the  oldest 
cities  in  all  the  world — called  by  the  natives  El 
Khalil,  or  The  Friend,  in  memory  of  Abraham  as 
the  friend  of  God;  but  more  generallv  known  as 
Hebron. 
29 


226     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

It  was  nearly  one  o'clock  when  we  reached  our 
stopping  place,  and  as  the  morning  had  been  wet  and 
cold  we  had  become  quite  chilled  by  the  long  ride. 
In  an  upper  room  over  the  gateway  we  found  a 
brazier  of  charcoal  fire,  and  we  felt  quite  oriental 
as  we  sat  on  a  divan  and  warmed  ourselves.  We 
doubt  not  that  this  charcoal  fire  in  the  brazier,  as 
we  saw  it  and  warmed  ourselves  at  it,  was  just  such 
a  fire  as  Peter  stood  by  and  warmed  himself  at  in  the 
palace  of  Caiaphas  on  that  memorable  night  when 
he  denied  his  Lord  and  which  afterwards  cost  him 
such  bitter  tears.  Indeed,  so  unchangeable  are  the 
manners  and  customs  in  Palestine  that  there  was 
scarcely  anything  our  eyes  looked  upon  that  did 
not  remind  us  of  Bible  times  and  Bible  scenes ;  and 
herein  was  one  of  the  great  benefits  of  our  journey, 
in  making  Bible  times  and  scenes  and  stories  and 
descriptions  natural  and  real  to  us. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

HEBRON  AND  ABRAHAM^  OAK. 

♦fr^  ebron,  as  we  have  said,  is  one  of  the  oldest 
™J  cities  in  the  world.  The  author  of  the  book 
of  Numbers  (13:22)  conveyed  to  the  people  of  his 
own  generation  some  idea  of  its  antiquity  then  by 
saying  that  it  was  built  seven  years  before  Zoan 
(Tanis)  in  Egypt.  It  is  a  Mediaeval  tradition  that 
Adam  was  created  here,  and  also  that  it  was  here 
he  died  and  is  buried. 

The  present  town  contains  a  population  of  about 
eighteen  thousand,  about  one  thousand  five  hundred 
of  whom  are  Jews  and  the  balance  of  the  most 
bigoted  sort  of  bigoted  Mohammedans.  They  are 
notorious  for  their  fierce  and  unreasoning  fanati- 
cism, all  travellers  needing  to  be  very  careful  about 
coming  into  collision  with  them.  Though  we  offered 
them  nothing  but  kindness,  our  party  was  spit  upon 
and  stones  were  thrown  at  us  before  we  left  the 
region. 

Hebron  is  the  seat  of  a  Turkish  governorship  and 
there  is  a  Turkish  postoffice  here.  The  merchants 
of  Hebron  carry  on  a  brisk  trade  with  the  Bedouins 


228     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

from  regions  further  east.  We  went  through  some 
of  their  shops  and  stores  and  manufactories.  The 
chief  branches  of  industry  are  the  manufacture  of 
water-skins,  from  goats'  hides,  and  glass-making. 
We  were  told  that  there  were  glass  manufactories 
here  as  early  as  in  the  middle  ages.  The  principal 
articles  made  are  lamps  and  more  especially  the 
colored  glass  rings  used  by  the  women  of  the  East 
as  ornaments.  We  visited  one  of  the  factories  and 
found  it  very  interesting.  In  a  rickety  old  room 
there  were  three  or  four  small  furnaces  of  earth,  all 
aglow  with  the  melted  material.  The  workmen  were 
then  making  rings  and  bracelets  and  other  glass  orna- 
ments to  send  to  the  Jerusalem  market.  The  process  is 
extremely  simple.  An  iron  rod  is  thrust  into  the 
melted  mass  in  one  of  the  pots.  To  the  end  of  this 
a  small  portion  of  the  material  adheres  as  the  rod 
is  drawn  out.  This  is  then  rapidly  twisted  and 
pressed  into  circular  shape  merely  by  the  dexterous 
use  of  a  long  tool  like  a  knife-blade.  A  second  time 
it  is  thrust  into  the  furnace,  and  when  sufficiently 
softened  is  stretched  to  the  desired  size  by  the  use 
of  another  tool.  The  various  colors  seen  in  the 
bracelets,  rings,  seals,  beads,  and  other  trinkets,  are 
not  laid  on  afterwards,  as  some  think,  but  are  blended 
with  the  general  mass  in  the  furnace.  Many  of  the 
things  are  really  beautifully  made  and  the  colors 
in  them  are  of  almost  every  variety  and  shade. 


HEBRON  AND  ABRAHAM'S  OAK       229 

The  present  city  is  divided  into  seven  quarters; 
one  being  named  from  the  mosque  which  stands 
in  it,  and  the  others  mostly  from  the  business  which 
is  carried  on  in  them,  as  "the  quarter  of  the  water- 
skin  makers,"  "the  quarter  of  the  glass-blowers," 
"the  quarter  of  the  cotton-workers,"  etc.  The 
houses  are  generally  of  stone  and  many  have  arched 
ceilings  and  domes,  as  is  so  frequently  the  case  in 
Jerusalem,  the  reason  being  that  timber  is  too  scarce 
and  dear  to  admit  of  flat  roofs.  Probably  the  same 
construction  was  found  in  the  days  of  Solomon,  for 
we  are  told  that  he  had  to  bring  the  beams  and  other 
timbers  for  the  temple  from  Lebanon.  Much  of 
what  is  now  used  in  these  cities  must  be  brought 
in  the  same  way,  by  sea  to  Joppa,  and  then  carried 
to  the  places  where  needed  on  camels'  backs.  Hence 
the  rooms  are  nearly  all  vaulted,  even  when  there 
is  a  second  story.  The  roofs,  however,  are  often 
made  flat  by  raising  the  outside  walls  and  filling  in 
until  level  with  the  top  of  the  arch.  This  is  done 
on  many  large  buildings,  by  means  of  which  a  fine 
promenade  is  secured  on  their  roofs. 

The  most  interesting  as  well  as  the  most  con- 
spicuous object  in  Hebron  is  the  Haram,  or  Great 
Mosque,  which  without  doubt  covers  the  site  of  the 
Cave  of  Machpelah.  It  is  a  massive  structure  two 
hundred  feet  long,  one  hundred  and  fifteen  wide 
and  its  enclosing  windowless  walls  are  about  fifty 


230    THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

feet  high,  relieved  somewhat  by  shallow  pilasters 
without  capitals.  Two  modern  minarets  and  a 
Saracenic  addition  to  the  height  of  the  walls  do  not 
essentially  injure  the  solemn  and  striking  character 
of  the  structure.  Its  smoothly  hewn,  almost 
polished,  massive  stones, — some  of  them  from  six- 
teen to  thirty-eight  feet  long  and  from  three  to  five 
feet  high, — with  the  distinctive  marginal  drafting, 
or  so-called  "Jewish  bevel,"  matched  by  no  others 
in  Palestine  except  in  the  sub-structure  of  the  temple 
area  in  Jerusalem,  mark  it  as  being  very  ancient, 
possibly  of  a  period  as  early  as  the  time  of  Solomon. 
Christians  are  not  allowed  to  pass  inside  the  Haram. 
At  one  of  the  two  entrances,  the  one  on  the  east  side, 
the  so-called  "unbelievers."  non-Mohammedans,  are 
permitted  to  ascend  to  the  seventh  step  of  the  stair- 
way. Beside  the  fifth  step  there  is  a  large  stone 
with  a  hole  in  it,  which  the  Jews  believe  extends 
down  to  the  tomb'  of  Abraham.  Into  this  hole  we 
were  each  permitted  to  thrust  our  arms  and  feel  of 
the  rock  inside.  That  was  as  near  as  we  Heretics 
were  permitted  to  get  and  as  much  as  we  were  per- 
mitted to  see  of  the  Cave  of  Machpelah !  On  Fri- 
days the  Jews  lament  here,  just  as  they  do  at  the 
wailing  place  in  Jerusalem.  Only  a  very  few 
Europeans  have  ever  been  inside  the  mosque,  and 
then  only  by  a  special  firman  of  the  Sultan.  One 
Spaniard,   many  years  ago,   succeeded   in  passing 


HEBRON  AND  ABRAHAM'S  OAK       231 

himself  off  as  a  Mohammedan,  and  thereby  gained 
admission.  It  is  said  that  the  Crown-prince  of 
Prussia  was  admitted  in  1869.  The  last  Christian 
visitor  was  the  Prince  of  Wales,  the  present  king 
of  Great  Britain,  in  1881.  Beneath  the  mosque,  in 
the  Cave  of  Machpelah,  are  supposed  to  rest  the 
bodies  of  Abraham  and  his  beloved  and  beautiful 
Sarah,  Isaac  and  Rebecca,  and  Jacob  and  Leah; 
according  to  a  Moslem  tradition  Joseph  also  is 
buried  here,  they  claiming  that  he  was  disinterred 
after  being  buried  at  Shechem,  and  removed  to  this 
place.  There  are  cenotaphs  or  imitation  tombs, 
above  the  ground,  to  all  these  persons.  These  ceno- 
taphs are  said  to  mark  a  spot  exactly  over  where  the 
bodies  are  lying  in  the  cave  below.  These  are  the 
objects  the  distinguished  visitors  were  permitted  to 
see,  covered  with  rich  carpets  of  green  and  red  silk 
and  magnificent  embroidery  in  gold;  but  they  were 
not  permitted  to  descend  into  the  cavern  below, 
which  is  the  real  resting-place  of  the  dead.  The 
cavern  is  said  to  be  double,  each  half  having  a  sepa- 
rate opening.  There  is  an  opening  in  the  floor  of 
the  mosque  which  affords  a  view  of  a  subterranean 
chamber,  which  it  is  believed  forms  a  kind  of  ante- 
chamber to  the  real  Cave  of  Machpelah.  This  much 
is  certain,  that  for  forty  centuries  this  spot  has  been 
revered  as  the  hallowed  resting-place  of  the  house- 
holds of  Abraham  and  Isaac  and  also  of  the  em- 


27,2     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

balmed  body  of  Jacob  which  was  brought  hither 
from  the  land  of  Egypt;  also  that  at  no  known 
period  has  it  ever  been  in  the  hands  of  any  people 
who  would  have  been  likely  to  disturb  or  desecrate 
these  graves.  "The  site  of  this  cave,"  says  Major 
Conder,  "may  almost  rank  with  that  of  Jacob's  Well 
and  the  Jerusalem  Temple  as  being  preserved  by 
local  tradition  dating  back  to  the  times  of  the  Jewish 
kingdom  at  least." 

The  Old  Testament  allusions  to  Hebron  are  very 
numerous.  It  was  the  third  halting  place  of  Abra- 
ham on  his  journey  southward  when  he  first  entered 
the  Promised  Land,  and  afterward  became  a  favorite 
camping  place.  It  was  here  that  Isaac  and  Jacob 
abode  for  a  time,  and  it  was  "out  of  the  vale  of 
Hebron"  that  Joseph  was  sent  to  deliver  a  message 
to  his  brethren,  which  expedition  resulted  in  his 
being  sold  into  Egypt.  Hebron  was  one  of  the  six 
cities  of  Refuge.  In  earlier  times  it  belonged  to 
the  Hittites,  and  a  little  later  became  a  stronghold 
of  the  Anakim.  After  the  conquest  it  was  assigned 
to  Caleb  for  an  inheritance,  because  of  his  faith  in 
God  and  favorable  report  when  he  returned  with 
the  spies.  David  spent  a  long  while  in  the  region 
of  Hebron,  and  after  Saul's  death  ruled  over  Judah 
here  for  seven  and  one-half  years,  or  until  he  was 
made  king  of  all  Israel  and  removed  his  throne  to 
Jerusalem.     It  was  at  the  gates  of  Hebron  that 


HEBRON  AND  ABRAHAM'S  OAK       233 

Abner  was  slain  by  Joab,  and  it  was  here,  at  the 
great  pool,  that  David  caused  Rechab  and  Baanah, 
the  murderers  of  Ishbosheth,  the  son  of  Saul,  to  be 
hanged  for  their  crime.  It  was  at  Hebron  also  that 
Absalom  made  his  headquarters  when  he  set  up  his 
revolt  against  his  father's  throne. 

Our  walk  through  the  streets  of  the  present  city- 
was  anything  but  delightful.  We  thought  the 
streets  of  Jerusalem  narrow,  but  these  were  still 
narrower,  and,  in  many  places  completely  roofed 
over  by  archways,  shutting  out  both  the  light  of 
day  and  an  equally  important  necessity,  pure  air; 
and  as  for  the  smells,  they  were  almost  overpowering. 
The  city  has  no  sewers,  the  centre  of  the  streets  being 
the  sewers,  and  the  sides  of  them  a  free  dump  for  all 
classes.  The  only  wonder  is  that  some  pestilence 
has  not  swept  the  whole  populace  off  the  earth  long 
ere  this. 

Next  to  the  Great  Mosque  over  the  cave  of  Mach- 
pelah  we  suppose  we  should  have  mentioned  the 
two  pools  of  Hebron.  They  are  of  great  antiquity, 
and  are  usually  ranked  first  after  the  mosque  in 
interest.  The  larger  one  is  in  the  lower  part  of 
the  town.  It  is  one  hundred  and  forty-two  feet 
square  and  about  twenty  feet  deep,  with  a  flight  of 
stone  steps  descending  into  it  in  one  corner.  The 
wall  is  of  very  ancient  masonry  and  is  built  about 
three  feet  above  the  level  of  the  street.     This  pool 

30 


234     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

is  the  main  source  of  water  supply  to  the  city  for 
all  purposes.  When  we  were  there  the  water  did 
not  seem  to  be  more  than  five  or  six  feet  deep  in  it, 
and  though  almost  covered  with  a  dark  green  scum 
it  was  pronounced  good.  We  saw  boys  and  men 
wading  in  it  at  one  corner  where  the  water  was 
shallow,  while  at  the  opposite  corner  men  and  women 
were  drawing  the  water,  filling  their  skin-bottles 
with  it  and  carrying  it  away  for  household  uses. 

The  other  pool  is  toward  the  northwestern  end  of 
the  town,  and  is  much  smaller,  though  it  is  con- 
structed in  the  same  manner  and  bears  the  same 
marks  of  antiquity.  It  is  seventy-four  feet  long, 
fifty-four  feet  wide  and  twenty-one  feet  deep.  Both 
of  the  pools  appear  to  be  supplied  by  rain  water  from 
the  bed  of  the  valley  along  which  a  stream  of 
water  flows  in  the  short  winter,  or  wet  season. 

The  one  object  outside  of  Hebron  visited  by  all 
travellers  is  the  so-called  Abraham's  Oak,  or  the 
oak  of  Mamre.  It  is  found  up  the  valley  of  Mamre 
in  the  midst  of  the  vineyards  about  one  and  one-half 
miles  to  the  northwest  of  the  city,  and  is  reputed 
to  be  the  oak  under  which  Abraham  pitched  his  tent 
after  his  separation  from  Lot,  and  where  the  angels 
visited  him  "as  he  sat  in  the  tent  door  in  the  heat 
of  the  day,"  and  where  they  were  entertained  a  little 
later  by  himself  and  his  wife  and  his  servants,  (Gen. 
18).     The  tree  is  certainly  a  very  venerable  one 


HEBRON  AND  ABRAHAM'S  OAK       235 

indeed,  and  one  of  the  largest  in  the  country.  Its 
trunk  is  thirty-two  feet  in  circumference  at  a  distance 
of  six  feet  from  the  ground,  and  at  a  height  of  nine 
feet  it  divides  into  four  large  branches.  It  stands 
in  a  leaning  position  and  nearly  half  of  the  trunk 
is  dead  and  beginning  to  decay.  For  the  purpose 
of  prolonging  the  life  of  the  tree  a  bank  of  fresh 
earth  several  feet  deep  has  recently  been  thrown  up 
about  it  and  is  supported  by  a  stone  wall.  There 
is  now  a  high  iron  fence  about  the  tree  and  no  one 
can  get  near  it  unless  admitted — for  a  fee — by  a 
monk  with  the  key,  from  the  Russian  hospice  near 
by.  The  tree  and  twenty  acres  of  ground  around 
it  now  belong  to  the  Russian  government,  by  whom 
a  large  two-story  stone  building,  the  hospice  men- 
tioned, has  been  erected  on  the  hillside  above,  in- 
tended as  a  free  lodging-place  for  pilgrims  of  the 
Greek  Church  who  visit  Hebron. 

As  we  have  said,  it  is  certainly  a  very  old  tree. 
It  is  known  to  have  been  standing  in  the  sixteenth 
century.  But  of  course  no  one  believes  that  it  is  the 
identical  tree  under  which  Abraham  entertained  his 
visitors,  nearly  four  thousand  years  ago.  Still,  it  is 
a  tree  of  the  same  kind  under  which  the  patriarch 
sat,  and  it  stands  near  the  same  spot,  perhaps  on 
precisely  the  same  little  plain;  and  the  sight  of  it 
certainly  helped  us  to  reconstruct  in  imagination 
and  to  enjoy  with  deeper  interest  than  ever  before 
the  scene  which  it  commemorates. 


236     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

As  we  have  said  before,  we  think  there  is  no  little 
value  in  coming  under  the  influence  of  such  scenes 
and  associations.  The  land  is  an  excellent  com- 
mentary on  the  Book ;  the  land  awakens  new  interest 
in  the  Book,  and  we  certainly  know  that  our  sight 
of  many  of  the  sacred  locations  of  the  land  have 
rendered  the  recitals  of  the  Book  much  more  vivid, 
meaningful  and  real. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

FROM  JERUSALEM  TO  RAMLEH. 

♦ir  t  is  fifty-four  miles  from  Jerusalem  to  Joppa 
"  by  the  railway.  It  is  forty-one  miles,  or  thir- 
teen miles  shorter,  by  the  carriage  road,  and  there 
is  a  fairly  good  carriage  road  all  the  way.  It  may 
sound  strange  and  out  of  place  to  hear  a  modern 
railway  conductor  shout,  "All  aboard  for  Jerusa- 
lem," or  as  we  heard  the  call,  "All  aboard  for  Joppa," 
but  that  is  a  sound  you  can  hear  almost  any  day  of 
the  year  at  either  Joppa  or  Jerusalem. 

It  was  at  about  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  that  we 
took  carriages  in  front  of  our  hotel,  rode  down 
David  street  to  the  Joppa  Gate,  through  the  gate, 
down  the  hill  past  the  lower  end  of  the  Sultan's  Pool, 
into  the  valley  of  Hinnom,  and  there,  within  sight 
of  the  city,  entered  a  modern  railway  train  drawn 
by  an  American  locomotive,  and  soon  bade  farewell 
to  Jerusalem. 

As  our  train  sped  away  toward  the  south  we  were 
passing  along  the  level  plateau  of  El-Bukeia,  known 
in  Bible  times  as  the  Valley  of  Rephaim,  through 
which  the  boundary  between  Judah  and  Benjamin 


238     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

ran.  Within  three  miles  we  passed  the  village  of 
Bet  Safafa,  on  our  left,  with  the  famous  monastery 
of  Mar  Elyas,  or  Saint  Elijah.  This  monument 
is  said  to  mark  the  spot  where  stood  the  juniper  tree 
under  which  Elijah  threw  himself,  discouraged  and 
exhausted,  when  he  was  fleeing  from  Jezebel,  and 
where  he  slept  and  was  refreshed  by  an  angel 
who  fed  him.  On  our  right  were  the  villages  of 
El-Maliha  and  Katamon,  the  latter  being  a  Greek 
settlement  of  some  importance,  as  it  contains  a  small 
church  and  the  summer  residence  of  the  Greek 
Patriarch  of  Jerusalem.  The  village,  as  we  men- 
tioned in  a  former  chapter,  is  said  to  mark  the 
location  of  the  house  of  the  godly  Simeon,  who  in 
the  temple  took  the  infant  Saviour  in  his  arms  and 
blessed  him  and  then  pronounced  the  Nunc  Dimittis. 
A  little  further  on  we  sped  swiftly  by  the  villages  of 
Ain  Yalo  and  Esh-Sherafat,  on  our  left,  and  also 
very  soon  past  the  famous  Ain  el-Haniyeh,  better 
known  as  Philip's  Well.  Since  in  the  fifteenth  cent- 
ury the  tradition  has  been  that  Ain  el-Haniyeh  is 
the  spring  in  which  Philip  baptized  the  Ethiopian 
eunuch,  though  earlier  tradition  has  it  that  he  was 
baptized  at  another  spring  not  far  from  Hebron. 

A  mile  or  more  before  reaching  Philip's  Well  the 
plain  had  begun  to  dip  toward  the  west  and  our  way 
was  down  a  steep  grade  between  narrowing  hills  in 
the  Wady  el-Ward,  or  as  the  name  so  expressively 


FROM  JERUSALEM  TO  RAMLEH      239 

means,  the  Valley  of  Roses.  Through  this  valley 
runs  alongside  the  railway  the  old  caravan  road  to 
Gaza. 

Our  first  stop  was  at  a  station  near  the  important 
village  of  Bittir.  The  name  of  the  station  is  also 
called  Bittir,  though  it  serves  for  two  villages,  Bittir, 
on  the  hill  to  the  left,  and  El-Welejeh  on  the  right. 
Bittir,  which  was  known  in  Joshua's  time  as  Baither, 
also  as  Bethar,  lies  high  up  on  a  hill  and  was  in 
Roman  times  a  strongly  fortified  place,  and  very 
difficult  to  take.  We  are  told  that  once  in  a  time 
of  insurrection  the  Romans  besieged  it  and  only 
succeeded  in  capturing  it  after  a  siege  of  over  three 
years.  When  it  was  at  last  taken  there  was  an 
awful  massacre  of  the  Jewish  inhabitants,  the  Tal- 
mud stating  that  the  blood  of  those  who  were  slain 
reached  to  the  nostrils  of  the  horses  and  flowed  down 
to  the  sea.  Of  course  this  must  have  been  an  exag- 
geration. There  are  traces  of  an  old  fortification 
to  be  seen  there  still,  and  some  remarkable  chambers 
in  the  rocks  and  some  old  cisterns. 

The  railway  here  takes  a  sharp  turn  toward  the 
north  and  northwest  and  follows  down  the  windings 
of  the  Wady  es-Sarar,  crossing  it  twice  by  two  high 
bridges  over  fifty  feet  long.  This  Wady  or  valley, 
is  known  in  the  Old  Testament,  as  the  valley  of 
Sorek,  and  in  this  vicinity  the  story  of  Samson  is 
localized.     It  was  the  home  of  Samson  and  the 


240    THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

scene  of  many  of  his  exploits.  After  passing  Akur, 
on  the  hill  to  the  right,  and  Der  esh-Shekh,  on  the 
left,  one  a  small  village  and  the  other  the  location  of 
a  noted  convent,  we  soon  came  in  sight,  high  up  on 
the  rocks  to  the  right,  of  the  mouth  of  a  grotto,  the 
so-called  Samson's  Cavern.  It  was  somewhere 
hereabout  in  the  valley  through  which  we  were  pass- 
ing lived  his  betrayer  Delilah.  We  are  told  plainly, 
in  the  sixteenth  chapter  of  Judges,  that  "he  loved 
a  woman  in  the  valley  of  Sorek,  whose  name  was 
Delilah.  And  the  lords  of  the  Philistines  came  up 
unto  her,  and  said  unto  her,  Entice,  and  see  wherein 
his  great  strength  lieth,  and  by  what  means  we  may 
prevail  against  him,  that  we  may  bind  him  to  afflict 
him :  and  we  will  give  thee  every  one  of  us  eleven 
hundred  pieces  of  silver."  Delilah  did  as  they  de- 
sired, by  and  by  got  his  secret,  and  they  overcame 
Samson,  put  out  both  his  eyes  and  carried  him  away 
to  Gaza,  and  there  he  was  put  to  grinding,  as  a  horse 
at  a  mill,  in  their  prison  house.  By  and  by  his  hair 
grew  and  in  answer  to  prayer  God  gave  him  his  old 
time  strength,  and  while  the  Philistines  thought  to 
have  him  make  sport  for  them  in  the  temple  of  their 
god  Dagon,  "Samson  took  hold  of  the  two  middle 
pillars  upon  which  the  house  stood,  .  .  .  and 
he  bowed  himself  with  all  his  might;  and  the 
house  fell  upon  the  lords,  and  upon  all  the  people 
that  were  therein.     ...     So  the  dead  which  he 


THE    TOWER    OF    RAMLEH. 


FROM  JERUSALEM  TO  RAMLEH      241 

slew  at  his  death  were  more  than  they  which  he  slew 
in  his  life." 

A  little  further  down  the  valley  of  Sorek  we 
passed,  high  up  on  the  left,  the  village  of  Der  Aban, 
then  Artuf  on  the  right,  and  then,  on  the  same  side, 
conspicuous  on  a  conical  hill  the  little  town  of  Sara, 
which  is  the  ancient  Zoreah  (Joshua  15:33),  or 
Zorah  (Judges  13:2).  The  station  of  Der  Aban, 
which  was  our  second  stop,  is  over  two  miles  distant 
from  each  of  these  three  last  mentioned  villages  and 
is  used  by  them  all,  so  far  as  the  inhabitants  use  the 
railway  at  all,  which  we  judge  is  not  very  much. 
We  believe  that  the  natives  as  a  rule  prefer  their 
donkeys  and  camels ;  besides  they  seldom  see  money 
enough  to  pay  railway  fare. 

The  next  place  lying  near  the  railway,  on  the  left, 
was  the  Well  of  Ain  Shems,  the  ruins  of  the  ancient 
Beth-Shemesh.  They  lie  on  a  knoll  on  the  southern 
slope  of  the  hill,  just  opposite  to  Zorah,  which  is 
about  two  miles  away,  and  is,  as  the  reader  will 
recall,  the  birthplace  of  Samson.  It  was  along  this 
very  part  of  the  valley  that  the  two  milch  kine  took 
their  voluntary  course  when  the  Philistines  having 
had  the  sacred  ark  of  the  covenant,  which  they  had 
captured  in  battle,  among  them  for  seven  months, 
and  finding  it  a  curse  upon  them,  sent  it  back  to 
Israel.  The  ark  had  been  at  Ashdod,  where  the 
image  of  Dagon,  in  the  house  of  Dagon,  fell  down 

31 


242     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

before  it,  breaking  off  its  head  and  hands  until  "only 
the  stump  of  Dagon  was  left  to  him."  Then,  in  fear, 
they  carried  the  ark  to  Gath,  whereupon  the  city 
was  struck  with  a  blight  of  disease.  Then  it  was 
taken  to  Ekron,  and  the  people  of  Ekron  planned  to 
send  it  back  to  Israel.  They  made  a  new  cart  and 
put  the  ark  thereon,  took  two  milch  kine  that  had 
never  borne  the  yoke  and  attached  them  to  it,  and 
then  set  them  free.  The  account  then  is  that  "the 
kine  took  the  straight  way  to  the  way  of  Beth-Shem- 
esh,  and  went  along  the  highway,  lowing  as  they 
went,  and  turned  not  aside  to  the  right  or  to  the  left ; 
and  the  lords  of  the  Philistines  went  after  them  to 
the  border  of  Beth-Shemesh.  And  they  of  Beth- 
Shemesh  were  reaping  their  wheat-harvest  in  the 
valley,  and  they  lifted  up  their  eyes,  and  saw  the 
ark,  and  rejoiced  to  see  it.  And  the  cart  came  unto 
the  field  of  Joshua,  a  Beth-Shemite,  and  stood  there, 
where  there  was  a  great  stone;  and  they  clave  the 
wood  of  the  cart,  and  offered  the  kine  a  burnt  offer- 
ing unto  the  Lord."  From  here  the  ark  was  taken 
to  Kirjath  Jearim,  where  it  remained  for  twenty 
years. 

This  return  of  the  ark  is  certainly  a  very  striking 
incident.  It  has  given  the  theme  for  a  very  weird 
and  wonderful  conception  by  Paul  Gustave  Dore,  in 
one  of  his  pictures.  Once  seen,  that  picture  can 
never  be  forgotten.     As  we  looked  down  this  widen- 


FROM  JERUSALEM  TO  RAMLEH      243 

ing  valley  from  this  point,  and  saw  it  filled  with 
fields  of  waving  grain  the  whole  scene  flashed  upon 
us  with  a  vividness  that  it  had  been  impossible  to 
realize  before. 

The  next  station  at  which  we  stopped  was  Sejed, 
which  is  situated  at  the  lower  end  of  the  Valley  of 
Sorek,  where  the  valley  widens  out  into  a  fertile 
plain.  This  plain  is  one  of  the  Sultan's  private 
domains,  chosen  by  him  no  doubt  on  account  of  its 
especial  fertility  and  productiveness. 

About  four  or  five  miles  further  on  we  passed  in 
near  sight  of  Tell  Gezer,  or  the  hill  Gezer,  upon 
which  are  the  extensive  ruins  of  the  ancient  city  of 
that  name.  In  its  vicinity  are  a  number  of  rock 
tombs  and  rock-cut  wine  presses.  There  is  also 
a  large  reservoir.  This  city  was  situated  on  a  com- 
manding oblong  hill  and  was  one  of  the  royal  cities 
of  the  original  Canaanites,  when  Joshua  first  invaded 
the  land.  It  was  captured  by  him  and  assigned  to 
the  Levites  of  the  Kohathite  family,  but  afterwards 
fell  back  into  the  hands  of  the  Philistines  again.  It 
was,  at  a  later  period,  taken  again  from  the  Philis- 
tines by  Pharaoh  and  presented  by  him  to  Solomon, 
his  son-in-law,  as  his  daughter's  dowry.  It  was  an 
important  fortress  in  the  time  of  the  Maccabees, 
as  also  again  in  the  time  of  the  Crusades. 

A  little  further  on  we  passed  through  the  small 
Arab  village  of  Naaneh,  near  by  which  there  lies,  a 


244     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

short  distance  to  the  left,  the  village  of  Akir — the 
Ekron  of  Old  Testament  times.  Ekron  was  one  of 
the  five  chief  cities  of  the  Philistines.  It  was  on 
the  northern  frontier  of  Philistia,  and  was  within 
the  territory  originally  assigned  to  Judah.  It  is 
nine  miles  from  the  sea  and  five  miles  nearer  the 
hills  than  Ramleh. 

Our  next  stop  was  at  Ramleh,  which  is  the  largest 
place  between  Jerusalem  and  Joppa.  It  contains 
about  six  thousand  five  hundred  inhabitants,  about 
two  thousand  of  whom  are  Christians  of  the  ortho- 
dox Greek  faith.  Ramleh  is  said  to  be  the  Arima- 
thea  of  the  New  Testament,  where  dwelt  that  Joseph 
who,  together  with  Nicodemus,  went  to  Pilate  after 
the  crucifixion  and  begged  the  body  of  Jesus,  and 
who  after  taking  it  down  from  the  cross,  "wrapped 
it  in  a  clean  linen  cloth,  and  laid  it  in  his  new  tomb." 
But  it  is  known  that  the  tradition  that  this  is  the 
Arimathea  of  New  Testament  times  is  an  unwar- 
ranted fabrication  of  later  centuries,  for  the  town 
is  known  to  have  been  founded  in  the  eighth  century 
by  the  Omayyad  Khalf  Sulieman,  and  its  name  is 
of  purely  Arabic  origin.  Ramleh  signifies  "Sand." 
The  place  soon  became  prosperous  and  is  said  to 
have  been  even  larger  than  Jerusalem.  In  the 
twelfth  century  the  city  was  greatly  damaged  by 
fire.  It  suffered  a  number  of  sieges  and  after  the 
fifteenth  century  fell  to  decay.     Of  late  years  it  has 


FROM  JERUSALEM  TO  RAMLEH      245 

been  recovering  its  importance  and  is  now  the  most 
prosperous  of  all  the  inland  towns  of  the  plain. 
Napoleon  once  had  his  headquarters  here,  occupying 
a  room,  which  is  still  shown,  in  the  Latin  Monastery. 
The  most  remarkable  monument  of  Ramleh  is  the 
Tower,  or  the  so-called  White  Mosque,  which  is 
situated  a  little  distance  outside  the  city  to  the  south- 
west. The  Tower  rises  from  a  base  of  ruined  walls 
to  a  height  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet.  It  is  a 
portion  of  a  very  large  mosque  built  by  the  founder 
of  the  city,  but  was  rebuilt  by  the  Crusaders.  With 
its  flying  buttresses  and  story  after  story  of  arched 
windows,  it  suggests  a  portion  of  an  English  or 
Gothic  cathedral  ruins.  The  top  of  the  tower  is 
reached  by  one  hundred  and  ten  steps  and  the  view 
is  said  to  be  one  of  the  finest  in  all  Palestine.  Toward 
the  south  is  a  large  olive-plantation ;  toward  the  east 
are  tombs  and  the  town  of  Ramleh;  farther  distant 
toward  the  north  and  south  and  west  stretches  the 
beautiful  plain  of  Sharon,  and  in  the  distant  west 
is  seen  the  silvery  band  of  the  Mediterranean,  while 
to  the  east  are  the  blue  mountains  of  Judea.  The 
view  is  finest  by  evening  light,  when  the  mountains 
are  guilded  by  the  setting  sun,  though  our  view  at 
Ramleh  was  a  morning  view  with  the  sun  slanting 
from  the  other  direction. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE  PLAIN  OF  SHARON,  LYDDA  AND  JOPPA. 

^wo  short  miles  north  of  Ramleh,  traversed 
^■^  by  the  carriage  road,  and  the  railway  passing 
near  by,  is  the  little  town  of  Lydda,  a  very  ancient 
city,  mentioned  as  far  back  as  in  the  First  Book  of 
Chronicles,  where  it  is  stated  that  it  was  built  by 
Shamed,  a  Benjamite,  its  name  being  called  Lod. 
It  was  occupied  after  the  captivity  and  is  mentioned 
in  the  Books  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah.  It  is  now 
a  flourishing  village  embowered  in  fine  orchards  of 
olive,  fig  and  mulberry  trees.  It  is  especially  inter- 
esting as  the  place  where  Peter  wrought  the  miracle 
of  healing  upon  Eneas,  who  had  been  sick  of  the 
palsy,  the  fame  of  which  no  doubt  spread  to  Joppa, 
and  caused  the  friends  of  Dorcas  to  send  for  him; 
for  the  record  is  that  all  who  dwelt  in  Lydda  and 
Sharon  saw  Eneas  after  his  restoration  to  health 
"and  turned  to  the  Lord." 

Lydda  lies  in  the  midst  of  the  Plain  of  Sharon. 
As  we  well  know,  in  Old  Testament  times  the  ex- 
cellency of  Sharon  was  proverbial ;  and  in  all  ages 


SHARON,   LYDDA   AND   JOPPA        247 

it  has  been  celebrated  for  its  beauty  and  fertility  and 
rich  harvest  and  pasturage.  It  is  the  largest  and 
most  fruitful  tract  of  land  in  Palestine.  The  joyful 
flourishing  of  Christ's  coming  kingdom  is  compared 
by  the  prophet  Isaiah  to  the  "excellency  of  Carmel 
and  Sharon."  He  exclaims:  "It  shall  blossom 
abundantly,  and  rejoice  even  with  joy  and  singing." 
In  regard  to  this  plain  we  must  use  language 
which  we  would  have  considered  extravagant  before 
we  saw  it.  It  is  diversified  with  low  hills  here  and 
there  and  some  rolling  territory;  but  in  its  larger 
measurements  it  is  a  great  plain  extending  from 
the  region  of  Mt.  Carmel  on  the  north  to  the  land 
of  the  Philistines,  seven  or  eight  miles  south  of 
Joppa,  and  from  the  Mediterranean  to  the  foot-hills 
of  the  mountains  which  form  the  central  ridge  of 
Palestine.  In  other  words  it  is  a  great  undulating 
prairie  about  fifty  miles  long  and  varying  from  six 
to  twelve  miles  in  width.  It  is  truly  a  rich  and  lovely 
country,  and  even  in  the  hands  of  its  present  ineffi- 
cient and  lazy  cultivators  it  sends  a  large  quantity 
of  produce  to  market.  It  is  remarkably  diversified, 
with  meadows  and  pastureland,  with  grainfields 
and  gardens,  and  with  thickly  set  groves  of  oranges 
and  pomegranates  and  palms,  which  cluster  about 
the  scattered  villages  into  which  the  numerous 
streams  from  the  mountains  pour  their  fertilizing 
floods  year  by  year.     The  plain  has  a  gradual  ascent 


248    THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

toward  the  hills,  but  you  do  not  notice  that,  and  if 
suddenly  put  down  upon  it  would  almost  imagine 
yourself  on  one  of  our  rich  and  rolling  prairies  of 
the  middle  west.  The  general  prevalence  of  wheat- 
fields  would  help  to  confirm  this  impression.  There 
is  scarcely  a  limit  to  the  grain  and  fruit  this  plain 
would  produce  if  in  the  hands  of  enterprising  and 
skillful  farmers. 

This  plain  has  always  been  noted,  and  justly  so, 
for  the  great  beauty  and  variety  of  its  wild-flowers. 
As  some  one  has  said,  "Over  its  wide  expanse  in 
spring-time  a  million  of  flowers  are  scattered, — 
poppies,  pimpernels,  anemones,  the  convolvulus  and 
the  mallow,  the  narcissus  and  blue  iris-roses  of 
Sharon  and  Lilies  of  the  Valley."  The  sweet  scented 
narcissus  is  probably  the  "Rose  of  Sharon,"  to  which 
Christ  is  likened  in  the  Song  of  Solomon,  though 
our  guides  always  pointed  to  the  beautifully  brilliant 
cardinal  red  anemones,  which  abounded  everywhere 
in  Palestine,  as  the  "Rose  of  Sharon."  We  think 
these  more  likely  to  have  been  the  "lilies  of  the  field" 
of  which  the  Saviour  spoke,  for  they  are  so  gorgeous 
in  coloring  that  truly  indeed  Solomon  in  all  his 
glory  could  not  have  been  arrayed  like  one  of  these. 

We  ought  to  have  stated  earlier  that  when  we 
first  entered  the  Plain  of  Sharon,  looking  toward  a 
forlorn  little  village,  the  place  was  pointed  out  where 
Samson  caught  the  three  hundred  foxes  and  sent 


SHARON,  LYDDA   AND   JOPPA        249 

them  with  burning  fire-brands  into  "the  standing 
corn,"  or  wheat  fields,  of  the  Philistines. 

One  of  the  peculiar  sights  of  the  plain,  in  any 
places  where  the  railway  ran  parallel  with  the  road, 
or  caravan  route,  to  Jerusalem,  was  the  watch-towers 
which  were  seen  at  regular  intervals.  Half  a  century 
ago  these  were  built  all  along  the  route  to  Jerusalem 
at  intervals  of  about  one  mile,  and  in  them  the 
Turkish  Government  kept  watchmen  by  day  and 
night  to  guard  the  way  to  the  Holy  City.  Most  of 
these  towers  are  falling  into  ruin.  They  are  now 
without  garrisons,  but  are  very  picturesque  features 
of  the  landscape. 

It  is  only  seven  miles  from  Lydda  to  Joppa  and 
we  were  soon  there.  It  seemed  as  if  the  whole  town 
was  at  the  station  to  meet  us,  and  as  if  each  individ- 
ual was  set  on  being  employed  as  a  guide  to  show 
us  over  the  place,  and  was  making  as  much  noise  as 
was  in  his  power,  in  order  to  attract  our  attention. 
Our  only  answer  to  each  persistent  applicant  was 
"imshi,"  which  impolitely  means  "begone ;"  but  was 
unfortunately  about  the  extent  of  our  negative 
vocabulary.  We  had  our  own  well-tested  guides 
and  did  not  need  any  of  them. 

The  town  is  beautifully  situated  upon  a  sloping 
hill  rising  out  of  the  Plain  of  Philistia  to  an  elevation 
of  one  hundred  and  fifty-three  feet.  The  houses 
are  principally  built  of  stone,  and  the  3treets  are 

32 


250    THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

narrow,  dirty  and  badly  paved.  The  port  is  con- 
sidered the  oldest  in  the  world.  And  when  we  saw 
our  beautiful  ship  riding  majestically  at  anchor  out- 
side the  ledge  of  rocks  in  the  harbor,  a  grate- 
ful kind  of  home  feeling  came  into  our  hearts. 
This  harbor  was  considered  a  port  of  importance 
in  the  time  of  Solomon,  and  here  Hiram,  king  of 
Tyre,  brought  the  cedars  of  Lebanon  for  the  build- 
ing of  the  temple.  It  was  from  here  that  Jonah 
embarked  for  Tarshish  when  fleeing  from  the  pres- 
ence of  God.  Since  long  before  the  Christian  era 
it  has  been  the  principal  seaport  for  all  Palestine, 
and  is  to-day.-  When  the  Romans  invaded  Palestine 
Joppa  was  the  first  place  taken  by  Pompey,  as  of 
the  most  importance  before  attacking  Jerusalem. 
During  the  Jewish  war  eight  thousand  of  its  inhab- 
itants were  slaughtered  by  Cestius,  the  Roman  gen- 
eral. In  1799  Joppa  was  taken  by  Napoleon,  after 
an  obstinate  and  murderous  siege,  after  which  four 
thousand  Turkish  soldiers  were  treacherously  and 
inhumanly  massacred  by  his  order.  The  house  in 
which  Napoleon  had  his  headquarters  in  Joppa  is 
still  shown.  Joppa  belonged  to  the  tribe  of  Dan. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  the  place  was  ever  visited 
by  Christ;  but  all  our  readers  will  remember  that 
it  was  here,  while  praying  on  the  house-top  of 
"Simon  the  tanner,"  that  Peter  had  his  wonderful 
vision  which  made  the  way  plain  for  the  evangeliza- 


SHARON,  LYDDA   AND   JOPPA        251 

tion  of  the  Gentiles.  He  saw  a  great  sheet  let  down 
from  heaven  "wherein  were  all  manner  of  four- 
footed  beasts  of  the  earth,  and  wild  beasts  and  creep- 
ing things  and  fowls  of  the  air.  And  there  came 
a  voice  to  him,  Rise,  Peter,  kill  and  eat.  But  Peter 
said,  No  so  Lord;  for  I  have  never  eaten  anything 
that  is  common  or  unclean.  And  the  voice  spake 
unto  him  again  the  second  time,  What  God  hath 
cleansed  that  call  not  thou  common.  This  was  done 
thrice  and  the  vessel  was  received  up  into  heaven." 
Immediately  after  this  there  appeared  three  mes- 
sengers from  Cornelius,  at  Cassarea,  a  Gentile,  and 
Peter  went  with  them  without  gainsaying  and 
preached  the  Gospel  to  Cornelius  and  a  company 
gathered  in  his  house;  and  while  Peter  yet  spake 
"the  Holy  Ghost  fell  on  all  them  which  heard  the 
word,"  and  Peter  baptized  them;  thus  it  became 
known  that  the  Gentiles  were  heirs  of  the  promises 
of  God  as  well  as  the  Jews.  That  was  the  beginning 
of  world-wide  missions,  and  of  a  movement  to  save 
every  soul  in  every  nation  under  the  sun. 

Before  Peter  had  been  called  away  to  Csesarea, 
twenty-five  miles  up  the  coast,  he  had  performed  a 
notable  miracle  here  in  Joppa,  for  here  lived  Dorcas, 
the  excellent  woman  who,  "was  full  of  good  works 
and  alms-deeds  which  she  did."  She  fell  sick  and 
died.  The  friends  of  Dorcas,  in  their  distress,  re- 
membered that  Peter  was  at  Lydda,  near  by,  and  that 


252     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

he  had  healed  Eneas  of  his  infirmity,  and  they  sent 
at  once  two  messengers  to  ask  Peter  to  come.  When 
he  came  he  went  into  the  upper  room  where  the 
body  of  Tabitha,  or  Dorcas,  lay,  and  putting  forth 
all  that  were  in  the  room  he  knelt  down  and  prayed, 
"Then  turning  him  to  the  body  he  said,  Tabitha, 
arise.  And  she  opened  her  eyes ;  and  when  she  saw 
Peter,  she  sat  up.  And  he  gave  her  his  hand,  and 
lifted  her  up ;  and  when  he  had  called  the  saints  and 
widows  he  presented  her  alive.  And  is  was  known 
throughout  all  Joppa;  and  many  believed  in  the 
Lord.  And  it  came  to  pass  that  he  tarried  many 
days  in  Joppa  with  one  Simon  a  tanner." 

The  house  of  Tabitha  and  that  of  Simon  the 
tanner  are  both  shown  to  the  traveller,  but  he  knows, 
of  course,  that  they  are  not  the  originals,  though 
there  are  some  special  evidences  in  favor  of  the 
general  location  of  the  house  of  Simon.  Excava- 
tions in  the  front  of  the  traditional  house  have  dis- 
closed some  queer  oval  cisterns,  that  may  have  been 
used  in  tanning.  These,  with  other  accessories, 
give  color  to  the  supposition  that  the  house  shown 
stands  on  or  near  the  original  site  of  Simon's  house. 

The  population  of  Joppa  has  very  much  increased 
in  recent  years,  and  is  now  estimated  at  about  thirty- 
five  thousand,  about  five  thousand  being  Christians, 
seven  thousand  Jews  and  the  balance  Mohammedans. 
It  is  said  that  about  fifteen  thousand  pilgrims  to  the 


SHARON,   LYDDA   AND   JOPPA        253 

Holy  Land  pass  every  year  through  Joppa ;  so  many 
visitors,  of  course,  add  much  to  the  trade  and  pros- 
perity of  the  place.  But  there  are  other  sources  of 
wealth.  Joppa  has  no  mean  trade  with  other  parts 
of  the  world,  exporting  annually  large  quantities 
of  oranges,  olives,  pomegranates,  figs,  apricots  and 
other  choice  Oriental  fruits,  besides  maize,  sesame, 
wine,  soap,  and  wool.  One  of  the  places  we  visited 
was  a  very  large  soap  factory,  where  a  fine  quality 
of  soap  is  made  from  olive  oil,  and  from  which  it  is 
shipped  to  all  parts  of  the  world.  It  is  said  that  the 
average  yield  of  the  orange  crop  alone,  in  the  district 
immediately  around  Joppa,  is  over  eight  million 
oranges  annually. 

But  our  visit  in  Joppa  was  short,  therefore  we 
must  be  satisfied  to  give  this  somewhat  general  des- 
cription. Our  steamer  was  waiting  for  us  outside 
the  reefs.  From  Simon's  house  we  came  down 
streets  almost  like  stairways  to  the  shore.  There 
the  vigorous,  well-trained  boatmen,  with  their  large, 
strong  boats,  were  ready  to  take  us  to  our  floating 
home.  The  day  was  beautifully  clear,  the  sea  per- 
fectly calm,  and,  contrary  to  all  that  we  had  heard 
of  the  difficulties  and  dangers  of  embarking  or  dis- 
embarking at  this  port,  we  had  no  more  trouble  than 
one  would  have  on  a  mill  pond. 

The  view  of  the  town  from  the  sea  is  striking  and 
very  interesting.     It  looked  like  a  pyramidal  mound 


254     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

of  houses,  resembling  whitish  cubes  or  so  many  dry 
goods  boxes  piled  up  unevenly  and  most  pictur- 
esquely against  a  background  of  blue  sky.  Far  in 
the  distance  could  be  seen  the  mountains  of  Judah 
and  Ephraim.  Innumerable  little  boats  hovered 
about  in  the  bay  near  by.  As  our  gangways  were 
pulled  up  and  our  great  steamer  began  to  move  off, 
it  was  with  no  little  regret  that  we  saw  the  land  fade 
out  of  our  vision  and  felt  that  in  all  probability  we 
should  not  again  be  permitted,  at  least  in  this  life, 
to  look  upon  The  Land  Where  Jesus  Lived. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

SOME  SACRED  LOCALITIES  OUTSIDE  OF  PALESTINE. 
ON  THE  WAY. 

<7^he  members  of  our  cruise  visited  a  number  of 
^»  places  of  interest  to  Bible  students  before  we 
reached  Palestine,  and  we  doubt  not  our  readers 
would  be  pleased  to  take  a  hasty  glance  at  some  of 
the  locations  our  itinerary  included  before  we  came 
to  the  gates  of  the  Holy  Land. 

We  stopped  first  at  the  Madeira  Islands,  the  land 
of  perpetual  flowers  and  fruits,  visited  Funchal, 
where  Columbus  lived  for  a  time  and  got  his  wife, 
walked  through  its  semi-tropical  gardens,  visited 
its  old  Citadel,  the  cathedrals,  churches  and  bazaars, 
and  found  it  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  romantic 
places  possible  to  imagine.  Then  we  went  to 
Gibraltar,  England's  great  crouching  lion,  a  mighty 
rock  seven  miles  in  circumference,  "honeycombed 
with  galleries  and  bristling  with  cannon."  Then 
Algiers  was  visited,  the  home  of  pirates,  for  so 
many  years  the  terror  of  Christians,  with  its  great 
Mole  reaching  a  mile  out  to  sea  built  by  thirty 


256     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

thousand  Christian  slaves,  with  its  old  Citadel  or 
Kasbah  on  the  heights,  with  its  filthy  but  picturesque 
Marabout  quarter  and  its  modern  and  beautiful 
section  known  as  Mustapha  Superieur,  and  its 
strangely  mingled  population  from  every  nation 
under  the  sun.  We  then  sailed  on  to  Malta,  passing 
near  the  mouth  of  St.  Paul's  Bay  with  its  little 
church  and  monument  to  St.  Paul,  and  with  every 
nook  and  cranny  of  the  shore  seeming  to  tell  some- 
thing of  that  wonderful  shipwreck.  The  twenty- 
seventh  and  twenty-eighth  chapters  of  the  Book  of 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  became  especially  interest- 
ing reading  to  us  all,  with  the  incidents  of  Paul's 
residence  of  three  months  on  the  island,  then  known 
as  Melita.  We  visited  Valetta,  with  its  wonderful 
harbor  and  fortifications,  and  its  famous  Church  of 
St.  John,  so  closely  associated  with  the  Knights  of 
St.  John,  also  took  train  to  Citta  Vecchia,  and  went 
to  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Paul,  built  upon  the  tradi- 
tional site  of  the  house  of  Publius,  who  entertained 
St.  Paul,  and  also  to  the  great  catacombs  where  the 
early  Christians  hid  themselves,  lived,  died  and  were 
buried. 

It  was  as  we  were  returning  to  the  steamer  in  the 
evening  that  a  peculiar  accident  happened.  It  was 
the  only  unfortunate  occurrence  of  the  kind  during 
the  entire  cruise,  and  as  "all's  well  that  ends  well" 
we  mention  it  only  because  of  its  thrilling  interest 


OTHER  SACRED  LOCALITIES  257 

to  hundreds  who  witnessed  it  at  the  time,  and  be- 
cause of  its  being  vividly  remembered  by  six  of  our 
most  distinguished  passengers  who  were  the  principal 
actors  in  the  scene.  In  transferring  the  passengers 
from  the  harbor  steamers  to  our  ship,  standing  out- 
side the  harbor,  small  boats  manned  by  Maltese  boat- 
men were  used.  The  sea  was  running  very  high, 
with  great  swells  along  the  "Celtic's"  sides.  As 
one  of  the  small  boats  approached  the  landing-plat- 
form at  the  foot  of  the  ship's  outside  stairway,  the 
boatmen  unfortunately  allowed  it  to  come  a  little 
too  close  and  its  bow  caught  upon  the  platform.  As 
the  boat's  stern  went  down  with  the  receding  wave 
the  occupants,  fortunately  all  men,  the  two  boatmen, 
several  distinguished  ministers  of  various  denomi- 
nations, two  well  known  eastern  business  men  and 
a  big-hearted  Iowa  bank-president,  were  all  uncere- 
moniously spilled  into  the  sea.  It  was  indeed  a 
thrilling  moment.  The  hearts  of  the  hundreds  of 
on-lookers  stood  still.  A  sailor  who  was  a  noble 
swimmer  leaped  from  the  ship's  deck  to  the  rescue. 
But  even  his  aid  was  not  needed.  In  less  time  than 
it  takes  to  tell  it  the  numerous  other  small  boats  near 
by  had  picked  up  all  the  men,  though  the  bank-presi- 
dent mentioned  was  the  last  to  be  rescued,  as  he  had 
unfortunately  come  up  under  the  overturned  small 
boat.  But  happily  all  were  soon  on  deck,  and,  after 
a  change  of  raiment,  appeared  shortly  at  the  supper 
33 


258     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

table,  the  only  seeming  difference  being  with  im- 
proved appetites !  They  became  the  centre  for  con- 
gratulation of  many  friends,  while  the  general  grati- 
tude for  their  escape  took  the  form  of  a  purse  of 
gold  presented  to  the  sailor  who,  though  unnecessar- 
ily, yet  bravely  leaped  overboard  and  swam  to  their 
aid. 

After  our  day  at  Malta  we  sailed  on  to  Athens. 
Here  we  are  standing  on  Mars  Hill  with  our 
Bibles  open  at  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  Acts.  The 
hill  itself  is  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  sea  and  under  the  shadow  of  the  Acrop- 
olis, which  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  higher. 
From  where  we  stand  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
modern  city  and  practically  all  the  ruins  of  the 
ancient  city  and  upon  the  Acropolis,  are  in  plain 
sight.  We  can  see  also  old  Phaleron  in  the  distance, 
where  Paul  and  his  conductors  probably  landed  when 
they  came  by  ship  from  a  port  near  Berea.  We  can 
see  down  across  the  fertile  Attic  plain  six  miles  away 
to  Piraeus  and  New  Phaleron,  at  the  first  of  which 
our  party  landed  and  from  which  we  came  up, 
according  to  choice,  in  the  tramcars  or  by  carriages. 
Scarcely  a  lovelier  view  can  be  found  the  world  over 
than  here  lies  spread  out  before  our  eyes,  and  which 
lay  in  still  greater  splendor  before  the  eyes  of  Paul 
when  he  stood  upon  this  same  eminence. 

When  Paul  stepped  on  shore  he  walked  through 


OTHER  SACRED  LOCALITIES  259 

an  avenue  of  temples  and  porticos,  statues  and  altars. 
When  he  entered  the  city  gates  he  saw  statues  on 
every  side  in  bronze  and  marble  of  the  most  illus- 
trious characters  the  city  had  produced.  It  is  said 
that  at  the  date  of  his  visit  there  were  thirty  thousand 
gods  in  Athens,  that  "it  was  easier  to  find  a  god  in 
Athens  than  a  man,"  that  in  one  street  there  stood 
before  every  house  a  statue  of  the  god  Hermes. 
Paul  was  waiting  here  at  Athens  for  the  coming 
of  Silas  and  Timothy,  Acts  17:  15,16;  but  walking 
through  the  city  and  contemplating  their  objects  of 
worship,  Acts  17 :  23,  he  had  noticed  not  only  altars 
to  innumerable  gods,  but  as  though  the  people  feared 
some  one  might  be  left  out,  and  his  displeasure 
thereby  invited,  they  had  erected  at  least  on  altar 
"To  the  Unknown  God,"  Acts  17:23,  or  else  they 
had  gotten  some  conception  of  the  existence  of  the 
Jehovah  of  the  Jewish  world  and  had  erected  one 
to  him,  though  unknown  to  them. 

It  is  interesting  to  know  that  there  is  one  such 
altar  in  existence  to-day,  the  only  one  found  among 
the  relice  of  antiquity.  It  stands  on  the  Palatine 
Hill  in  Rome,  was  erected  by  order  of  the  ancient 
Roman  Senate  and  bears  the  same  inscription  as  the 
one  Paul  saw  at  Athens,  "To  the  Unknown  God." 
Being  contemporary  with  the  one  the  Apostle  men- 
tions it  is  an  object  which  speaks  in  confirmation  to 
our  eyes  of  the  statements  concerning  Paul's  visit  to 
Athens. 


260     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

Paul's  spirit  was  stirred  within  him  when  he  saw 
the  city  wholly  given  to  idolatry,  Acts  17:  16.  He 
therefore  went  first  into  the  synagogue  to  reason 
with  the  Jews,  Acts  17 :  17,  and  then  into  the  public 
square,  and  there  discussed  with  some  professors 
of  philosophy  his  doctrines  concerning  "Jesus  and 
the  resurrection."  They  mocked,  yet  they  wished 
to  hear  him  further.  So  they  invited  him  to  ac- 
company them  to  Mars  Hill  and  address  them  in  a 
more  formal  manner.  It  was  upon  this  hill,  in  the 
open  air,  that  the  court  of  the  Areopagus  held  its 
sittings  from  a  time  before  all  record.  Paul  accepted 
the  invitation  and  gave  a  most  masterly  and  logical 
discourse,  only  the  outline  of  which  is  preserved  for 
us,  Acts  17:22-31.  In  barest  possible  outline,  what 
Paul  said  to  his  Athenian  hearers  was  this :  I  notice 
that  as  a  people  you  are  exceedingly  religious.  Pass- 
ing through  your  beautiful  city  I  have  noticed  many 
altars,  and  among  them  one  to  an  unknown  God. 
It  is  this  God,  of  whom  ye  confess  ignorance,  I  come 
to  declare  unto  you.  He  is  the  true  God,  Creator 
and  Ruler  of  all  things.  He  does  not  live  in  temples, 
such  as  these  beautiful  ones  I  see  about  me,  made 
by  men,  nor  does  he  need  any  services  at  men's 
hands.  It  is  he  who  gives  to  all  life  and  breath. 
He  determines  and  appoints  the  lot  and  position  of 
each  individual,  and  all  should  seek  to  know  him, 
for  he  is  not  far  from  any  one  of  us.     It  is  owing 


OTHER  SACRED  LOCALITIES         261 

to  him  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being.  Some 
of  your  own  poets  have  said  truly  that  we  are  the 
offspring  of  God.  If  then  we  are  his  children,  we 
cannot  believe  that  he  is  a  god  made  by  man.  This 
God  is  willing  to  forgive  your  past  ignorance  of 
him  and  your  sins,  if  you  will  turn  to  him  from 
your  evil  ways,  come  to  him  in  the  person  of  Christ 
his  Son,  whom  he  raised  from  the  dead  and  has 
exalted  to  be  the  Judge  over  all. 

His  mention  of  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection 
broke  up  the  meeting.  Some  mocked;  others  said 
they  would  hear  him  again.  "Howbeit  certain  men 
clave  unto  him,  and  believed ;  among  the  which  was 
Dionysus  the  Areopagite  and  a  woman  named 
Damaris,  and  others  with  them,"  Acts  17:34. 

Paul  soon  departed  and  went  to  Corinth,  about 
forty-five  miles  away — a  city  whose  Acropolis  can  be 
dimly  seen  from  the  summit  of  the  Athenian  Acro- 
polis. There  he  preached  for  two  years  and  estab- 
lished a  strong  church.  Paul's  courage  in  address- 
ing such  an  audience  as  he  had  in  Athens  and  in 
such  a  place  certainly  was  admirable.  His  faith 
in  his  message  and  in  the  Master  in  whose  name 
he  spoke  was  inspiring.  And  history  justifies  his 
faith.  His  visit  to  Athens  seemed  almost  a  failure ; 
but  it  was  not.  The  time  came  when  even  the 
Parthenon  became  a  Christian  temple.  To-day  as 
we  look  about  us  what  a  change !     The  monuments 


262     THE  LAND  WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

of  idolatry  upon  which  Paul  looked  have  disappeared. 
The  gorgeous  image  of  Minerva  which  towered 
aloft  on  the  Acropolis  has  been  broken  to  pieces  and 
scattered.  The  temples  at  that  time  standing  so 
magnificent  and  full  of  idols  remain  only  in  splendid 
ruins.  Churches  and  chapels  dedicated  to  Christian 
worship  appear  on  every  side.  The  cross  itself  has 
become  the  national  emblem  and  we  see  it  on  the 
flag  flying  from  the  king's  palace  below  us  and  from 
every  public  office  and  on  the  shipping,  while  the 
mighty  change  which  has  taken  place  in  the  religious 
ideas  and  civilization  of  Greece  bear  witness  to  the 
power  of  Paul's  speech  on  the  Hill  of  Mars.  One 
must  read  Paul's  discourse  here  on  the  spot,  amid 
the  associations  which  so  forcibly  bring  the  past 
and  present  into  visible  contrast,  in  order  to  under- 
stand and  feel  the  full  impression  of  what  he  said. 
With  the  impression  gained  on  Mars  Hill  upon 
us,  let  us  now  visit  the  other  sights  of  Athens, — 
through  the  Beule  Gate,  discovered  in  1852,  up  the 
steps  of  the  wonderful  ruins  of  the  Propylaea,  to 
the  Temple  of  Athena  Nike,  or  "Wingless  Victory," 
on  our  right,  to  the  Erechtheum  on  the  left,  with 
the  famous  Portico  of  the  Caryatides.  Then  to  the 
Parthenon,  the  most  perfect  piece  of  architecture  in 
the  world,  which  it  would  take  volumes  to  describe. 
Do  not  fail  to  notice  as  they  appear  dimly  upon 
some  of  the  walls,  pictures  of  the  saints  and  of 


OTHER  SACRED  LOCALITIES         263 

religious  scenes,  remaining  from  the  time  when  the 
Parthenon  was  used  as  a  Christian  temple.  You 
must  spend  an  hour  or  two  in  the  Acropolis  Museum 
near  by,  also  go  to  the  Belvedere  and  see  one  of  the 
finest  views  you  will  ever  be  permitted  to  look  upon, 
— looking  away  to  Mount  Pentelikon,  Lykabettos 
and  Hymettos.  Below  the  crest  of  the  Acropolis 
we  visited  the  Odeion  of  Herodes  Atticus,  the  ruins 
of  a  magnificent  music  hall  built  in  memory  of  his 
wife,  also  the  Theatre  of  Dionysos,  commenced  in 
500  B.  C,  the  cradle  of  dramatic  art  in  Greece,  and 
capable  of  seating  thirty  thousand  spectators ;  also 
the  hill  Museion,  with  its  monument  of  Philopappas, 
the  Hill  Pnyx  with  its  Tribune  of  Demosthenes,  the 
Hill  of  the  Nymphs  with  its  Observatory,  the  ruins 
of  the  Agora  or  market  place,  the  finely  preserved 
temple,  the  Theseum,  built  by  Cimon  in  496  B.  C. 
as  a  tomb  for  the  bones  of  Theseus,  the  triumphal 
Gate  of  Hadrian,  the  magnificent  ruins  of  the  temple 
of  Jupiter  Olympus,  the  Stoa  of  Hadrian,  the  Tower 
of  the  Winds,  the  Dipylon  or  Sacred  Gate  at  the 
entrance  of  the  ancient  city  and  the  ancient  Burial 
Ground  outside  the  Dipylon.  Then,  of  course,  the 
king's  palace,  the  American  School,  the  Stadium, 
the  monument  of  Byron,  the  several  fine  museums 
in  the  modern  city — indeed  there  was  no  end  of 
interesting  sights  in  Athens,  the  wonderful  "purple- 
wreathed  city,"  the  "eye  of  Greece,  mother  of  arts 


264     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

and  eloquence."  Not  a  few  days  or  a  few  years 
would  suffice  to  see  them  all  and  give  them  such 
study  as  they  are  worthy  of  receiving. 

We  have  just  left  Athens.  Our  ship  is  now 
carrying  us  the  three  hundred  and  fifty-six  miles 
northeast  to  Constantinople.  We  are  steaming 
through  the  famous  Dardanelles,  a  long  narrow 
strait  with  old  Turkish  fortresses  on  each  side;  we 
are  passing  the  site  of  ancient  Troy;  we  are  crossing 
the  Sea  of  Marmora — yes,  here  we  are  at  anchor 
in  the  Bosphorus  before  one  of  the  externally  most 
beautiful  cities  in  the  world,  Constantinople,  the 
capital  of  the  Ottoman  Empire.  Externally  it  is 
beautiful ;  but  internally  it  is  dog-infested,  foul- 
smelling,  and  in  many  parts  dark  and  dilapidated; 
nevertheless  in  every  part  exceedingly  interesting. 

It  would  take  many  volumes  to  describe  the 
present  city  and  tell  the  past  history  of  this 
wonderful  metropolis  of  the  East.  What  we  saw 
in  even  the  hasty  visit  of  a  few  days  would  require 
more  space  than  we  can  occupy  in  this  chapter.  The 
visit  ended,  up  the  Bosphorus  to  the  Black  Sea  and 
return  we  steamed,  past  innumerable  villages  and 
beautiful  summer  residences.  We  visited  that 
"Lighthouse  of  the  East,"  Robert  College,  at  Rumili 
Hissar,  as  some  of  us  did  also  that  almost  equally 
important  American  College  for  Girls,  at  Scutari. 
Back  past  the  city,  down  through  the  Sea  of  Mar- 


OTHER  SACRED  LOCALITIES         265 

mora,  we  are  now  on  our  way  toward  a  more  dis- 
tinctly Bible  land,  Asia  Minor,  and  the  port  of 
Smyrna,  the  distance  of  that  city  being  about  two 
hundred  and  ninety-five  miles  from  the  one  we  have 
just  left. 

The  next  morning  at  sunrise  we  were  sailing  into 
its  beautiful  harbor. 

The  Bible  references  to  Smyrna  are  only  two,  but 
much  may  be  gathered  from  them.  In  Rev.  1  : 1 1 , 
Smyrna  is  mentioned  as  the  seat  of  one  of  the  seven 
churches  in  Asia  to  which  Divine  messages  were 
sent.  In  Rev.  2:8-10  the  message  to  the  Smyrna 
church  is  given,  and  from  it  we  learn  that  it  was 
a  much  afflicted  and  persecuted  church,  reduced  to 
external  poverty,  yet  rich  in  faith ;  also  that  after 
the  receipt  of  the  letter  it  was  yet  to  undergo  further 
severe  tribulation. 

The  city  is  located  at  the  head  of  the  Gulf  of 
Smyrna  and  at  the  foot  of  Mt.  Pagus,  in  the  province 
of  the  ancient  Lydia.  It  stands  upon  a  plain  be- 
tween Mt.  Pagus  and  the  sea,  part  of  it  on  the  slope 
of  the  hill,  and  is  surrounded  on  three  sides  with 
lofty  mountains.  Most  of  the  streets  are  narrow 
and  winding ;  however,  along  the  sea  front  are  several 
fine  streets  and  a  broad  esplanade  for  nearly  two 
miles,  along  which  is  a  line  of  street  cars.  The  place 
has  a  present  population  of  upwards  of  three  hundred 
thousand,  made  up  of  Greeks,  Turks,  Armenians  and 
34 


266    THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

Franks.  It  has  a  magnificent  harbor,  crowded  at 
all  times  with  steamers  and  shipping,  two  lines  of 
railway  which  extend  inland,  and  is  the  commercial 
centre  of  the  Levant.  Its  bazaars  are  exceedingly 
interesting;  it  is  the  headquarters  of  the  drug  trade 
of  the  world,  and  among  its  other  articles  of  export 
are  carpets,  figs,  cotton,  raisins,  dried  currants  and 
the  so-called  "Sweets  of  Paradise,"  or  fig  paste. 
The  city  lays  claim  to  being  the  birthplace  of  Homer, 
and  the  grotto  is  pointed  out  where  he  is  said  to  have 
composed  his  poems. 

But  Smyrna  is  sacred  to  the  eyes  of  the  Christian 
world  because  it  was  the  seat,  as  we  have  said,  of 
one  of  the  seven  Apocalyptic  churches  of  Asia.  It 
was  sacred  to  the  eyes  of  the  writer  also  because 
his  father,  the  son  of  a  missionary,  lived  here  until 
he  was  twelve  years  of  age,  though  he  was  born  at 
Malta,  where  the  mission  press  was  located  at  that 
time.  The  great  and  good  Polycarp  was  Smyrna's 
first  bishop,  who,  according  to  his  pupil  Irenasus, 
was  himself  a  pupil  of  the  apostles,  more  especially 
of  John,  and  had  conversed  with  many  who  had 
seen  the  Lord  in  the  flesh.  According  to  Tertullian 
and  Jerome  he  was  consecrated  bishop  of  Smyrna 
by  John.  If  this  is  true,  he  was  the  "angel  of  the 
church  in  Smyrna"  to  whom  the  message  of  Rev. 
2:8-11  was  sent.  "I  know  thy  works,  and  tribu- 
lation, and  poverty  (but  thou  art  rich),"  etc.    What 


OTHER  SACRED  LOCALITIES  267 

a  comfort  it  must  have  been  to  that  afflicted  and 
persecuted  church  to  be  assured  that  Christ  knew 
all  about  their  sufferings  for  his  sake.  Nobly  this 
church  stood  the  hot  persecution  through  which  it 
was  called  to  pass,  as  illustrated  in  the  life  and  death 
of  Polycarp,  whose  tomb  many  of  us  visited  on  the 
mountain  side  back  of  the  city  and  near  to  a  tall 
cypress  tree.  The  location  of  the  church  also  was 
pointed  out  to  us  upon  the  acropolis  back  of  the 
city,  and  within  the  walls  of  the  citadel.  It  was 
during  the  persecutions  of  the  Christians  under 
Marcus  Aurelius  that  Polycarp  suffered  martyrdom, 
in  the  year  169.  He  suffered  with  the  most  heroic 
fortitude.  When  brought  out  into  the  stadium — the 
remains  of  which  we  saw  not  far  from  his  grave — 
in  the  presence  of  the  assembled  thousands,  the  pro- 
consul, struck  with  his  holy  and  reverend  appear- 
ance, and  anxious  to  save  his  life,  said  to  him: 
"Have  pity  on  thine  own  great  age.  Swear,  and  I 
will  release  thee ;  reproach  Christ.  To  which  Poly- 
carp made  the  historic  reply,  one  of  the  grandest  on 
record :  "Eighty  and  six  years  have  I  served  him, 
and  he  hath  never  wronged  me;  how  then  can  I 
blaspheme  my  Lord  who  hath  saved  me?"  and  from 
amid  the  flame  his  spirit  went  up  to  wear  the  martyr's 
crown. 

There  is  much  more  we  would  like  to  say  of 
Smyrna,  but  this  chapter  must  include  Ephesus  also. 


268     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

We  hasten  to  the  station  of  the  Aidin  Railway 
and  take  train  for  Ayasalook,  fifty-four  miles  away, 
which  is  the  station  and  village  near  by  the  ruins  of 
Ephesus.  As  we  move  out  of  the  city  of  Smyrna 
the  air  is  full  of  the  odor  of  orange  blossoms,  we 
cross  the  Meles  and  speed  through  a  fertile  valley 
smiling  with  grain  fields,  green  meadows,  and  groves 
of  oranges,  mulberry  and  figs.  Soon  we  come  out 
into  a  broad  plain  with  vast  vineyards  stretching 
away  on  either  side,  and  the  Greek  peasantry,  men, 
women  and  children,  in  quaint  Oriental  costumes, 
dressing  the  vines,  all  the  while  snow-capped  Mt. 
Olympus  in  plain  sight.  These  are  the  vineyards 
from  which  we  receive  the  celebrated  Smyrna  raisins. 
Farther  on  the  soil  is  much  poorer  and  is  devoted 
to  pasture  lands,  with  herds  and  flocks.  Every  few 
miles  caravans  are  passed,  the  long  strings  of  camels 
attended  by  Arabs  in  fanciful  dress,  presenting  a 
picturesque  scene  upon  which  the  eye  rests  with 
pleasure.  But  the  slow  and  primitive  locomotion 
of  the  camel  train  is  in  striking  contrast  with  the 
one  in  which  we  ride,  typical  of  the  unbridled  haste 
of  our  advanced  civilization. 

Here  we  are  at  Ayasalook !  Can  it  be  possible  that 
this  miserable  village  and  the  few  scattered  ruins 
in  sight  are  all  that  remains  to  represent  Ephesus, 
the  city  of  ancient  splendor!  Well,  there  is  enough 
remaining  that  it  would  take  many  days  to  examine 


OTHER  SACRED  LOCALITIES         269 

all  with  care.  Though  the  ruins  are  comparatively 
meagre,  yet  those  who  have  studied  them  carefully 
point  out  here  the  site  of  the  Church  of  St.  John, 
of  the  Stadium  and  the  Agora,  or  Market-Place,  of 
the  Gymnasium  and  the  Custom  House,  of  the  Quay 
and  Canal  and  City  Port,  of  the  Temple  of  Diana 
and  the  Great  Theatre,  and  many  of  the  principal 
streets,  while  others  not  so  reliable  tell  one  of 
traditional  places  such  as  the  Gate  of  Persecution 
and  St.  Paul's  Prison  and  the  tombs  of  the  Virgin 
Mary  and  St.  John  and  St.  Luke.  But  certain  it  is 
there  is  little  left,  however  interesting  that  little  is, 
of  what  was  once  the  most  splendid  city  of  Asia 
Minor,  the  metropolis  of  the  region,  the  "Ornament 
of  Asia,"  as  Pliny  styled  it. 

There  is  no  place  outside  of  Palestine  that  will 
more  amply  repay  a  careful  study  of  the  Biblical 
history  connected  with  it  than  will  Ephesus.  Yet, 
for  lack  of  space,  we  must  be  satisfied  to  give  only  a 
few  references  and  suggestions,  leaving  each  reader 
to  follow  them  out  more  fully  for  himself.  The  city 
early  became  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  scenes  of 
apostolic  labors.  Paul  was  the  founder  of  the  church 
there,  visiting  the  city  first  on  his  way  from  Corinth, 
in  company  with  Aquila  and  Priscilla,  Acts  18:  18. 
His  course  was  through  the  Grecian  Archipelago, 
past  many  an  isle  of  historic  and  legendary  interest. 
Arriving  there  he  went  into  the   synagogue  and 


270    THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

preached.  They  pressed  him  to  remain,  but,  promis- 
ing to  soon  return,  he  re-embarked  leaving  Aquila 
and  Priscilla,  but  hastening  himself  on  to  Jerusalem, 
Acts  18: 1 8-2 1.  That  was  in  the  spring  of  probably 
the  year  55 ;  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  in  fulfil- 
ment of  his  promise,  he  returned,  coming  by  way  of 
Antioch.  This  time  he  stayed  nearly  three  years 
and  firmly  established  the  great  Ephesian  church, 
afterwards  addressed  in  the  Apocalypse,  Rev.  2  : 1-7. 
During  his  absence  the  eloquent  Apollos,  of  Alex- 
andria, had  come,  Acts  18:24.  Instructed  in  "the 
way  of  God  more  perfectly"  by  Aquila  and  Priscilla, 
Acts  18:26,  he  had  been  preaching  with  power. 
Paul's  labors  here  were  abundantly  blessed  and  a 
wide  door  was  opened  into  Asia,  1  Cor.  16:9.  We 
have  the  name  of  his  first  convert,  Epsenetus,  Rom. 
16:5.  That  the  congregation  was  fully  organized 
at  an  early  date  is  evident  from  the  account  of  its 
officers  bidding  Paul  farewell  at  Miletus,  Acts 
20: 17-38,  also  from  the  fact  that  it  is  mentioned  as 
the  first  among  the  churches  of  Asia  Minor,  Rev. 
2:1.  After  preaching  in  the  synagogue  he  went 
to  the  school  of  Tyrannus,  Acts  19:9.  He  wrought 
miracles,  Acts  19:11-12.  His  preaching  was  so 
diligent  that  multitudes  heard  him  publicly  and  from 
house  to  house,  Acts  19  :  10,  Acts  20 :  20.  It  was  so 
effective  that  many  brought  their  books  of  magic, 
to  which  the  city  was  addicted,  Acts   19:19,  and 


OTHER  SACRED  LOCALITIES  271 

made  a  bonfire  of  them ;  and  it  interfered  so  materi- 
ally with  the  superstitious  traffic  in  silver  shrines, 
Acts  19:26,  as  to  arouse  the  enmity  of  Demetrius 
and  the  craftsmen,  resulting  in  a  riotous  popular 
tumult,  Acts  19:23-20:1.  Paul  himself  escaped, 
but  the  church  was  already  firmly  established.  Of 
its  pastors  the  Apostle  John  was  the  most  eminent. 
Here  he  came,  it  is  believed,  with  the  Virgin  Mary, 
soon  after  Paul  left.  Here  he  wrote  his  Gospel. 
Here  Timothy  was  an  officer  of  the  church  and 
labored.  It  was  from  Ephesus  St.  John  was  banished 
to  the  Island  of  Patmos,  and  to  which  he  returned 
on  the  ascension  of  Nerva  to  the  crown,  who  re- 
called all  who  had  been  banished.  John  is  supposed 
at  that  time  to  have  been  about  ninety  years  of  age, 
and  is  said  to  have  died  at  Ephesus  in  the  year  100, 
aged  ninety-four.  Paul  addressed  one  of  his  most 
important  epistles  to  the  Ephesian  Church,  Eph. 
1 : 1 ;  it  was  in  Ephesus  he  fought  with  wild  beasts, 
1  Cor.  15  :  32.  It  was  at  Ephesus  that  Onesiphorus 
ministered  so  kindly  to  Paul,  2  Tim.  1 :  16-18,  as 
well  as  at  Rome,  and  to  this  church  the  apostle  sent 
Tychicus,  2  Tim.  4:  12. 

Of  the  history  of  the  church  after  the  death  of  the 
Apostle  John  little  is  known.  But  this  we  sorrow- 
fully know,  that  the  "candlestick  was  removed  out 
of  its  place,"  and  that  all  the  splendor  of  the  temple 
of  Diana,  all  the  pomp  of  her  worship,  and  all  the 


272     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

glory  of  the  Christian  church  there  have  alike  faded 
away.  But  let  us  not  think  that  the  gospel  Paul 
planted  there  failed  of  success,  for  it  has  spread  over 
the  whole  world ;  nor  that  the  letter  he  wrote  to  the 
people  there  is  lost,  for  it  is  an  inspiration  to  untold 
millions  of  Christians  to-day.  The  success  of  the 
Gospel  rested  not  on  the  history  of  any  one  church. 
It  is  alive  to-day  in  the  hearts  of  millions  of  devoted 
Christians,  and  the  loving  words  of  Paul's  letter  to 
the  Ephesians  are  dear  to  more  hearts  to-day  than 
ever  they  have  been  before. 

We  go  back  to  Smyrna  to  take  ship,  and  steam 
through  the  Greek  Archipelago,  past  Chios  and 
Samos,  Patmos,  Cos,  Cnidus,  Rhodes  and  Cypress, 
six  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  to  our  first  landing  place 
in  Palestine,  Haifa,  at  the  foot  of  Mt.  Carmel. 


SUPPLEMENTAL  NOTES. 

THE  STORKS. 

Ps.  104 :  17,  "As  for  the  stork,  the  fir-trees  are  her  house." 
Jer.  8:7,  "Yea,  the  stork  in  the  heaven  knoweth  her 
appointed  time ;  and  the  turtle  and  the  crane  and  the  swallow 
observe  the  time  of  their  coming;  but  my  people  know  not 
the  judgment  of  the  Lord." 

One  of  the  most  familiar  sights  during  our  journey 
through  the  Holy  Land  was  the  storks.  It  was  very 
common  to  see  them,  long  legged  and  long  beaked, 
following  in  the  furrows  behind  the  plowmen  pick- 
ing up  the  worms  and  catching  the  mice  and  reptiles. 
We  saw  them  in  the  valley  of  Jezreel  and  other 
places,  and  especially  on  our  way  both  going  to  and 
returning  from  Jericho,  though  in  this  latter  region 
they  had  little  chance  to  follow  plowmen  as  little  of 
the  land  is  cultivated.  We  have  read  that  storks  are 
protected  by  law  in  many  parts  of  the  East,  because 
of  their  value  as  scavengers ;  but  one  of  the  natives 
at  Jericho  brought  one  to  our  hotel  that  he  had  shot. 
We  do  not  know  if  he  violated  any  law,  but  we  are 
glad  to  say  that  he  got  no  encouragement,  but  re- 
proof from  all  who  saw  the  dead  bird.  The  stork 
is  yery  easily  domesticated,  and  when  tame  will 

35 


274     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

follow  their  owners  like  a  dog.  They  are  of  mild 
and  peaceable  disposition,  and  even  if  angered,  will 
not  attempt  to  strike  or  bite  with  their  heavy  beaks, 
but  denote  displeasure  only  by  blowing  the  air  sharply 
from  their  lungs  and  nodding  their  heads  up  and 
down  rapidly.  When  disturbed  with  their  young  they 
make  a  snapping  sound  with  their  beaks.  The 
general  color  of  the  bird  is  white,  while  the  quill 
feathers  of  the  wings  are  black;  so  that  the  effect 
of  the  spread  wings  is  very  striking,  an  adult  bird 
measuring  about  seven  feet  across  when  flying.  As 
the  body,  large  though  it  may  be,  is  comparatively 
light,  when  compared  with  the  extent  of  the  wings, 
the  flight  is  both  lofty  and  sustained,  the  bird  flying 
at  a  great  height,  and,  when  migrating,  is  literally 
"the  stork  in  the  heavens."  Like  the  swallow,  the 
stork  resorts  year  after  year  to  the  same  location, 
and  when  it  has  fixed  its  nest  it  returns  always  to  it, 
when  the  breeding  season  comes  round.  It  is  looked 
upon  as  good  luck  to  have  a  stork  locate  about  the 
property  of  any  one.  The  stork's  nest  is  a  very 
large  and  rudely-constructed  affair,  seen  in  the  tops 
of  the  trees  and  on  very  high  ledges  of  rock. 

According  to  many  writers  it  is  claimed  that  the 
Hebrew  name  for  the  stork  signifies  benevolence.  This 
is  said  to  be  because  the  stork  is  remarkable  for  its 
filial  piety;  "for  the  storks  in  their  turn  support 
their  parents  in  their  old  age;  they  allow  them  to 


SUPPLEMENTAL  NOTES  275 

rest  their  necks  on  their  bodies  during  migration, 
and,  if  the  elders  are  tired,  the  young  ones  take 
them  on  their  backs."  According  to  others,  the 
name  is  given  to  the  stork  because  it  exercises  kind- 
ness toward  its  companions  in  bringing  them  food. 
Whatever  may  be  the  truth  in  these  directions,  it  is 
a  fact  that  the  stork  is  a  peculiarly  kind  and  loving 
parent  to  its  young.  We  doubt  not  that  it  is  in  this 
direction  its  benevolence  is  shown,  rather  than  to 
parents  or  to  its  fellows.  But  the  stork  is  a  sociable 
bird  and  often  many  of  them  build  their  nests  close 
together  and  seem  to  live  as  a  sort  of  community. 

There  are  valuable  spiritual  lessons  we  might 
learn  from  the  kindness  of  the  stork  and,  especially, 
from  its  knowledge  of  "its  seasons"  as  compared 
with  our  slackness,  as  was  the  case  with  God's 
ancient  people,  in  recognizing  his  judgments  and  his 
presence  among  us.  How  strangely  thoughtless, 
wayward  and  foolish  are  the  hearts  of  men,  and  how 
wilfully  blind  of  God's  providence  and  presence,  and 
the  blessings  he  is  ready  to  bestow ! 

TOWERS  AND  WATCHMEN. 

Isa.  52 : 8,  "Thy  watchmen  shall  lift  up  the  voice ;  with 
the  voice  together  shall  they  sing :  for  they  shall  see  eye  to 
eye,  when  the  Lord  shall  bring  again  Zion." 

To  understand  this  joyous  song  of  the  prophet  one 
needs  to  go  forth  to  the  fields  of  Palestine  at  the 


276    THE  LAND  WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

time  of  vintage,  especially  in  such  a  region  as  around 
Hebron,  where  the  vineyards,  as  we  saw  them,  are  so 
many  as  in  the  valley  of  Eshcol  and  the  valley  of 
Mamre.  The  vineyards  are  generally  on  the  slop- 
ing hills  each  side  of  the  valley,  often  going  up  by 
successive  terraces  quite  to  the  summit.  Being  far 
from  the  villages  and  often  without  fence  of  hedge 
or  wall,  they  must  be  carefully  guarded,  and  the 
strongest  and  most  fearless  young  men  are  selected 
for  watchmen.  These  take  their  stations  in  the  watch 
towers  or  on  the  highest  part  of  the  mountain  which 
they  have  to  guard  and  are  so  arranged  that  the 
eye  of  one  surveys  the  entire  series  of  vineyards  up 
to  the  point  where  the  eye  of  the  next  one  reaches. 
Thus  eye  meets  eye,  and  every  part  is  brought  under 
constant  watch-care.  "They  shall  lift  up  the  voice." 
When  an  animal  or  a  thief  appears,  or  any  other 
cause  of  alarm  occurs,  the  watchman  who  observes 
it  makes  a  prolonged  cry,  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  and 
is  immediately  responded  to  by  his  fellows  at  the 
other  stations.  The  attention  of  all  is  aroused,  and 
it  is  the  duty  of  all  to  see  that  the  threatened  injury 
is  avoided,  though,  of  course,  the  immediate  duty 
rests  upon  the  one  whose  part  of  the  vineyard  is 
in  danger. 

Thus  it  will  be  with  Zion  in  the  happy  days  fore- 
shadowed by  this  prophecy.  The  watchmen  will 
be   in   sufficient   numbers.     They   will   be   rightly 


SUPPLEMENTAL  NOTES  277 

located.  They  will  be  all  intent  in  their  work  of 
watching.  They  will  be  fully  ready  to  render  each 
other  needed  information  of  danger  or  aid  in  resist- 
ing it.  But  in  that  day  they  will  lift  up  their  voice 
in  gladness;  they  will  sing,  because  of  Zion's  safe 
and  happy  state.     God  hasten  the  day ! 

THE   SHEPHERD. 

Luke  15 :  3-7,  "And  he  spake  this  parable  unto  them  saying, 
What  man  of  you,  having  a  hundred  sheep,  if  he  lose  one  of 
them,  doth  not  leave  the  ninety  and  nine  in  the  wilderness, 
and  go  after  that  which  is  lost,  until  he  find  it?  And  when 
he  hath  found  it,  he  layeth  it  on  his  shoulders,  rejoicing. 
And  when  he  cometh  home,  he  calleth  together  his  friends 
and  neighbors,  saying  unto  them,  Rejoice  with  me;  for  I 
have  found  my  sheep  which  was  lost.  I  say  unto  you,  that 
likewise  joy  shall  be  in  heaven  over  one  sinner  that  repent- 
eth,  more  than  over  ninety  and  nine  just  persons,  which  need 
no  repentance." 

One  of  the  most  common  of  all  sights  as  we 
passed  through  Palestine  was  to  see  the  shepherds 
tending  their  flocks.  It  would  seem  as  if  the  per- 
sonal appearance  of  the  Eastern  shepherd  has 
changed  as  little  as  his  sheep  and  his  duties  toward 
them.  He  still  wraps  himself  in  his  large  cloak 
of  sheep-skin,  or  of  thick  material  woven  of  wool, 
goat-hair  or  camel-hair.  This  protects  him  from 
cold  or  rain  by  day,  and  is  his  blanket  at  night.  The 
inner  pouch  in  the  breast  is  large  enough  to  hold  a 
new  born  lamb  or  a  kid,  when  it  has  to  be  helped  over 
hard  places,  or  on  account  of  sickness  or  injury  has 


278    THE  LAND  WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

to  be  taken  to  a  place  of  shelter,  or  nursed  by  the 
family  at  home.  "He  shall  feed  his  flock  like  a 
shepherd :  he  shall  gather  the  lambs  with  his  arms, 
and  carry  them  in  his  bosom,  and  shall  gently  lead 
those  that  are  with  young." 

Everything  in  the  way  of  devoted  love,  intimate 
knowledge  and  protective  power  is  summed  up  in 
the  title  when  Jesus  is  called  our  Shepherd.  Heb. 
13:20;  John  10: 1-18. 

SLINGS. 

Judges  20:16,  "Among  all  this  people  there  were  seven 
hundred  chosen  men  lefthanded ;  every  one  could  sling  stones 
at  a  hair  breadth,  and  not  miss." 

The  carrying  of  firearms  is  very  common  in 
Palestine.  The  shepherds  in  the  fields  and  the 
travellers  we  passed  along  the  way  commonly  had 
a  very  long,  brass-bound  gun,  or  else  they  carried 
tremendous  clubs,  like  the  weaver's  beam  of  the 
giant,  and,  as  Dr.  Wm.  M.  Thomson  says,  "in  hand- 
ling them  they  are  as  expert  as  any  Irishman  with 
his  shillalah,  and  equally  as  dangerous." 

It  must  have  required  much  practice  for  the  seven 
hundred  left-handed  Benjamites  to  learn  to  "sling 
stones  at  a  hair-breadth,  and  not  miss."  But  the 
people  of  Palestine  know  how  to  make  slings,  and 
the  stones  for  use  are  everywhere  at  hand.  Dr. 
Thomson  says :     "I  have  seen  the  slings  used  in 


SUPPLEMENTAL  NOTES  279 

mimic  warfare  at  Hasbeiya  on  Mount  Hermon,  and 
there  merely  waged  by  the  boys  of  the  town.  The 
deep  gorge  of  the  Busis  divides  Hasbeiya  into  two 
parts,  and,  when  the  war-spirit  was  up  in  the  com- 
munity, the  lads  were  accustomed  to  collect  on  op- 
posite sides  of  this  gorge,  and  fight  desperate  battles 
with  their  slings.  They  chased  one  another  from 
cliff  to  cliff,  as  in  real  warfare,  until  one  of  the 
parties  gave  way,  and  retreated  up  the  mountain. 
I  have  seen  the  air  almost  darkened  by  their  whiz- 
zing pebbles,  and  so  many  serious  accidents  occurred 
that  the  authorities  often  interfered  to  abolish  the 
rude  sport;  but  whenever  there  is  a  fresh  feud,  or 
a  revolt  against  the  government  amongst  the  old 
folks,  the  young  ones  return  again  to  the  fight  with 
slings  across  the  Busis." 

SENTINELS. 

Isa.  62 :  6,  "I  have  set  watchmen  upon  thy  wall,  O  Jerusa- 
lem, which  shall  never  hold  their  peace  day  nor  night :  ye  that 
make  mention  of  the  Lord,  keep  not  silence." 

The  figure  of  speech  used  here  in  describing  the 
guarding  of  cities  got  striking  exemplification  in  our 
experiences  during  the  days  of  camping  in  the  Holy 
Land.  Our  camp  was  made  up  of  fifty  tents,  and 
near  by  was  also  the  large  number  of  horses  and 
pack  animals.  It  did  not  occur  to  us  that  it  would 
be  done  or  necessary,  but  during  the  night  we  heard 


28o     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

low  calls.  The  first  call  would  be  responded  to  by 
a  guard  stationed  near.  Then  that  guard  would 
call  and  the  next  one  would  respond.  We  found 
that  entirely  around  the  camp  was  a  series  of  guards, 
and  that  they  kept  up  this  responding  to  one  another 
the  whole  night  through.  Sometimes  instead  of 
calling  they  would  blow  a  small  shrill  whistle.  After 
the  first  night  we  became  accustomed  to  the  sound 
and  were  seldom  conscious  that  the  guards  were 
there.  Dr.  Wm.  M.  Thomson,  in  "The  Land  and 
the  Book"  tells  us  that  at  Sidon  the  custom  house 
guards  stationed  around  the  city  were  formerly  re- 
quired to  keep  one  another  awake  and  alert  in  this 
same  way,  particularly  when  there  was  danger  of 
smuggling. 

"I  have  set  watchmen  upon  thy  walls,  O  Jerusa- 
lem, which  shall  never  hold  their  peace  day  nor  night." 
If  we  conceive  of  Zion,  the  Church  of  God,  as  a  city 
defended  by  walls  and  towers  and  guarded  by 
soldiers,  how  natural  and  striking  the  illustration 
becomes,  especially  to  a  time  when  there  is  danger 
of  war.  At  such  a  time  the  watchmen  are  multiplied 
until  they  literally  "see  eye  to  eye,"  and  they  never 
remit  their  watchfulness,  nor  do  they  keep  silence, 
especially  at  night.  So  does  God  say,  in  Isaiah's 
prophecy,  that  his  ministers  are  watchmen  on  the 
walls  of  Zion  that  they  are  required  to  be  faithful, 
holding*not  their  peace  day  nor  night.    He  then  gives 


SUPPLEMENTAL  NOTES  281 

a  direct  charge :  "Ye  that  make  mention  of  the 
Lord,  keep  not  silence!"  To  all  Christians,  and 
to  ministers  especially,  this  sentinel  figure  of  speech, 
with  the  charge  implied  and  given,  brings  an  im- 
portant and  urgent  call  to  duty. 

THE  JACKALS. 

Ps.  63 : 9,  10,  "But  those  that  seek  my  soul,  to  destroy  it, 
shall  go  into  the  lower  parts  of  the  earth.  They  shall  fall 
by  the  sword:  they  shall  be  a  portion  for  foxes." 

As  we  were  camping  in  tents  every  sound  in  the 
night  could  be  plainly  heard.  One  of  the  strangest 
and  weirdest  was  the  screeching  of  the  jackals. 
When  we  heard  them  at  all  we  seemed  to  hear  hun- 
dreds of  them,  and  it  seemed  impossible  to  sleep. 
There  are  a  number  of  passages  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment in  which  the  word  fox  occurs,  and  it  is  almost 
certain  that  the  Hebrew  word  which  is  rendered 
in  our  translation  as  fox,  is  used  loosely,  and  refers 
in  some  places  to  the  jackal  and  in  others  to  the 
fox.  Even  at  the  present  time  the  jackal  is  ex- 
tremely plentiful  in  Palestine.  "It  is  an  essentially 
nocturnal  and  gregarious  animal.  During  the  whole 
of  the  day  the  jackals  lie  concealed  in  their  holes  or 
hiding  places,  which  are  usually  cavities  in  the  rocks, 
in  tombs,  or  among  ruins.  At  nightfall  they  issue 
from  their  dens,  and  form  themselves  into  packs, 
often  consisting  of  several  hundred  individuals,  and 

36 


282     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

prowl  about  in  search  of  food.  Carrion  of  various 
kinds  forms  their  chief  subsistence,  and  they  per- 
form in  the  country  much  the  same  task  as  is 
fulfilled  by  dogs  in  the  cities.  They  are  scavengers. 
If  any  animal  should  be  killed,  or  even  severely 
wounded,  the  jackals  are  sure  to  find  it  out  and 
devour  it  before  daybreak.  They  will  scent  out  the 
track  of  the  hunter  and  feed  upon  the  offal  of  the 
beasts  which  he  has  slain.  If  the  body  of  a  human 
being  were  to  be  left  on  the  ground  the  jackals  would 
certainly  leave  but  little  traces  of  it ;  and  in  the  olden 
times  of  warfare  they  must  have  held  high  revelry 
in  the  battle-field  after  the  armies  had  retired."  It 
is  to  this  propensity  of  the  jackal  that  David,  a  man 
of  war,  refers :  "Those  that  seek  after  my  soul, 
to  destroy  it,  shall  go  into  the  lower  part  of  the 
earth.  They  shall  fall  upon  the  sword ;  they  shall 
be  a  portion  for  foxes."  They  are  wild  beasts, 
afraid  of  men,  never  attacking  him  however  hungry, 
and  they  keep  aloof  from  towns  and  cities,  but  live 
in  uninhabited  parts  of  the  country. 

THE  BRAZIER  OF  COALS. 

John    18 :  18,    "And    Peter   stood   with   them   and   warmed 
himself." 

The  day  on  which  our  party  went  to  Hebron 
happened  to  be  one  of  the  very  few  cold  and  rainy 


SUPPLEMENTAL  NOTES  283 

days  we  experienced  during  our  travels  in  the  Holy 
Land.  The  distance  from  Jerusalem  is  about  twenty 
miles  and  when  we  arrived  at  the  city  of  Abraham, 
the  friend  of  God,  it  was  nearly  one  o'clock,  and  we 
were  hungry  and  quite  chilled  through.  But  in  an 
upper  room,  over  the  gateway  of  the  place  where 
we  were  entertained,  we  found  a  brazier  full  of  coals 
of  fire,  and  as  we  sat  on  a  divan  and  warmed  our- 
selves we  felt  ourselves  quite  Oriental.  This  char- 
coal fire  in  the  brazier  was  just  such  as  has  been 
used  by  the  people  for  centuries,  in  this  country  of 
almost  unchanging  customs.  We  doubt  not  that 
it  was  just  such  a  fire  that  Peter  warmed  himself 
by  in  the  palace  of  Caiaphas  on  that  memorable  night 
when  he  denied  his  Lord,  and  which,  afterwards, 
cost  him  so  many  and  such  bitter  tears.  The  fact 
is  that  almost  everything  one  looks  upon  in  this 
land  is  suggestive  of  Bible  scenes  and  Bible  times, 
manners  and  customs.  This  is  one  of  the  advan- 
tages of  a  visit  to  Palestine,  that  it  makes  the  times 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  so  real  to  the  one 
who  goes.  It  is  the  testimony  of  Christian  travellers 
generally  that  a  stay  in  the  Holy  Land  makes  the 
Bible  a  new  book  to  them. 


:84     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 


HOSPITALITY. 

Luke  n :  5,  6,  "And  he  said  unto  them,  Which  of  you  shall 
have  a  friend,  and  shall  go  unto  him  at  midnight,  and  say 
unto  him,  Friend,  lend  me  three  loaves;  for  a  friend  of  mine 
in  his  journey  is  come  to  me,  and  I  have  nothing  to  set 
before  him." 

The  East  is  celebrated  for  its  laws  of  hospitality. 
Among  the  Bedouin  and  those  living  in  remote 
villages  of  Palestine  these  laws  retain  their  primi- 
tive meaning  and  veneration,  and  in  the  towns  the 
parade  of  compliment  with  which  a  guest  is  received 
is  still  suggestive  of  the  original  custom.  Taken  in 
connection  with  the  laws  of  neighborhood  and  the 
generally  avaricious  tone  of  Oriental  life  the  im- 
portance assigned  to  hospitality  is  not  only  beautiful 
but  mysterious. 

PROCLAIMING  FROM  THE  HOUSE-TOPS. 

Luke  12 : 3,  "Therefore,  whatsoever  ye  have  spoken  in 
darkness  shall  be  heard  in  the  light;  and  that  which  ye  have 
spoken  in  the  ear  in  closets  shall  be  proclaimed  upon  the 
housetops." 

As  we  were  camped  near  villages,  on  several 
occasions  we  heard  men  make  public  cries  from  the 
housetops.  These  were  not  the  Mohammedan 
muezzins  calling  to  prayer,  though  that  call  too,  we 
often   heard.     We   were   told   that  the   custom   of 


SUPPLEMENTAL  NOTES  285 

making  these  calls  is  confined  entirely  to  villages 
in  the  country  districts,  that  it  never  obtains  in 
cities.  Our  Lord  spent  most  of  his  life  in  villages, 
and  accordingly  the  reference  is  to  what  he  heard 
there.  At  the  present  day  local  governors  in  vil- 
lages and  rural  regions  cause  their  demands  thus 
to  be  published.  Their  proclamations  are  generally 
made  in  the  evenings,  after  the  people  have  returned 
from  their  labors  in  the  field.  The  public  crier 
ascends  the  highest  roof  at  hand,  and  in  a  long- 
drawn  call  admonishes  the  faithful  subjects  of  the 
Prophet,  within  the  hearing  of  his  voice,  to  pray  to 
him.  He  then  proceeds  with  the  announcement  in  a 
set  form,  and  demands  obedience  thereto. 

Many  sleep  on  the  housetops  during  the  summer, 
both  in  the  city  and  country.  The  housetop  is  the 
most  agreeable  part  of  the  house,  especially  in  the 
morning  and  evening.  Whenever  there  is  any  ex- 
citement the  people  all  rush  to  the  housetops  to  see 
and  hear.  We  know  also  that  the  housetops  were 
often  resorted  to  for  worship.  Zeph.  1:5.  In  Acts 
10:9  Peter  was  on  the  housetop  at  Joppa,  in  prayer, 
before  the  arrival  of  the  men  from  Csesarea. 


286     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 


THE    HAND-MILL. 

Matt.  24:41,  "Two  women  shall  be  grinding  at  the  mill; 
the  one  shall  be  taken,  and  the  other  left." 

The  turning  of  the  "wheel,"  or  hand-mill,  is  often 
referred  to  in  the  Scriptures.  Ex.  11:5;  Judges 
16:21;  Sam.  5:13.  It  was  our  privilege  to  happen 
into  a  home,  in  Turmus  Aya,  and  see  the  mill  in 
use.  The  mill  consists  of  two  circular  stones  about 
eighteen  inches  in  diameter.  The  upper  one  has  a  hole 
near  the  edge  in  which  a  wooden  handle  is  placed. 
One  woman  pushes  the  stone  half  way  round  with 
the  handle  and  the  other  completes  the  circuit.  A 
pivot  rises  from  the  centre  of  the  lower  stone  and 
fits  in  a  cavity  in  the  upper,  thus  keeping  both  in 
place.  The  grain  is  ground  between  the  two.  It 
was  forbidden  to  keep  the  household  mill  as  a  pledge, 
Deut.  24 :  6.  It  is  still  considered  disgraceful  to  do 
so.  The  lower  stone  is  harder  than  the  upper  one, 
the  upper  one  being  of  porous  lava-stone  so  that  its 
surface  will  not  become  polished.  The  lower  one 
is  of  hard  lime-stone.  The  hardness  of  the  lower 
one  is  referred  to  in  Job  41 :  24.  The  cessation  of 
the  cheerful  sound  of  the  grinding  of  the  mill  the 
Bible  makes  a  token  of  vanished  pleasures.  Eccl. 
12:3-14. 


SUPPLEMENTAL  NOTES  287 


MONEY   CHANGERS. 

Matt.  21 :  12,  "And  Jesus  went  into  the  temple  of  God,  and 
cast  out  all  them  that  sold  and  bought  in  the  temple,  and 
overthrew  the  tables  of  the  money  changers,  and  the  seats 
of  them  that  sold  doves." 

The  site  of  the  money  changers  is  one  of  the  most 
common  we  saw  in  all  the  bazaars  and  places  of 
trade  in  the  East.  Indeed,  we  suffered  not  a  little 
at  their  hands  and  at  the  hands  of  those  who  pass 
counterfeit  and  out-of-date  coin. 

In  ancient  Jerusalem  the  coming  of  worshipers 
from  different  lands,  into  which  the  Jews  had  been 
scattered,  brought  many  different  coins  into  circu- 
lation. Acts  2:9,10,11.  In  the  time  of  Christ  the 
custom  of  having  money  changers  in  the  temple — a 
custom  begun  for  the  convenience  of  strangers  and 
the  general  public — had  become  a  mercenary  scandal. 
Christ  expelled  them  on  two  occasions,  with  the 
others  who  had  converted  the  house  of  prayer  into 
a  noisy  Oriental  bazaar. 

The  work  of  the  money  changers  in  the  East  is 
twofold,  namely  to  change  money  from  one  kind  of 
currency  to  another,  and  to  give  change  in  the  same 
currency.  The  man  charges  about  one  per  cent. 
But  the  change  you  get  must  be  very  carefully 
scrutinized  both  as  to  quality  and  quantity.  The 
money  changer  sits  all  day  at  the  street  corner  with 


288     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

his  little  case  in  front  of  him,  occasionally  clinking 
his  coins  to  make  known  his  presence.  The  variety 
of  coinage  in  Syria  and  Palestine  and  Egypt  is 
exceedingly  perplexing  until  one  becomes  accus- 
tomed to  the  different  forms  and  values. 

THE   HYENAS. 

Jer.  12:7-9,  "I  have  forsaken  mine  house,  I  have  left  mine 
heritage;  I  have  given  the  dearly  beloved  of  my  soul  into 
the  hand  of  her  enemies.  Mine  heritage  is  unto  me  as  a  lion 
in  the  forest;  it  crieth  out  against  me;  therefore  have  I 
hated  it.  Mine  heritage  is  unto  me  as  a  speckled  bird,  the 
birds  round  about  are  against  her;  come  ye,  assemble  all  the 
beasts  of  the  field,  come  to  devour." 

1  Sam.  13 :  18,  "And  another  company  turned  the  way  to 
Bethhoron :  and  another  company  turned  to  the  way  of  the 
border  that  looketh  to  the  valley  of  Zeboim  toward  the 
wilderness." 

In  the  first  passage  the  word  rendered  speckled 
bird  is  in  the  Septuagint  rendered  hyena.  In  the  sec- 
ond passage  the  word  wilderness  is  "the  valley  of 
the  hyenas."  Our  dragomen  were  fond  of  telling 
us  stories  of  the  hyenas.  After  supper,  in  the  tents, 
they  would  recite  experiences  with  them,  specially 
of  the  danger  of  coming  under  their  fatal  fascination 
at  night,  through  the  gaze  of  their  great  fiery  eyes. 
At  the  present  day  the  hyena  is  still  plentiful  in 
Palestine,  though  in  the  course  of  the  last  few  years 
its  numbers  have  been  sensibly  diminished.  The 
solitary  traveller,  when  passing  by  night  from  one 
town  to  another,  often  falls  in  with  the  hyena,  but 


SUPPLEMENTAL  NOTES  289 

need  suffer  no  fear,  as  it  will  not  attack  a  human 
being,  but  prefers  to  slink  out  of  the  way.  But  dead 
and  dying  and  wounded  animals  are  the  objects  for 
which  it  searches ;  and  when  it  finds  them  it  devours 
the  whole  of  its  prey.  "The  lion  will  strike  down 
an  antelope,  an  ox,  or  a  goat,  tear  off  its  flesh  with 
its  long  fangs,  and  lick  the  bones  with  its  rough 
tongue  until  they  are  quite  cleaned.  The  wolves 
and  jackals  will  follow  the  lion  and  eat  every  soft 
portion  of  the  dead  animal,  while  the  vultures  will 
fight  with  them  for  the  coveted  morsels.  But  the 
hyena  is  a  more  accomplished  scavenger  than  lion, 
wolf,  jackal,  or  vulture;  for  it  will  eat  the  very 
bones  themselves,  its  tremendously  powerful  jaws 
and  firmly  set  teeth  enabling  it  to  crush  even  the 
leg  bone  of  an  ox,  and  its  unparalleled  digestive 
powers  enabling  it  to  assimilate  the  sharp,  hard 
fragments  which  would  kill  any  creature  not  con- 
stituted like  itself." 

The  animal  is  hated  largely  on  account  of  its 
tendency  to  rifle  graves.  The  bodies  of  the  rich 
are  buried  in  rocky  caves  closed  with  heavy  stones 
which  the  hyenas  cannot  move,  or  in  walled-up 
sepulchres.  But  the  bodies  of  the  poor  are  buried 
in  the  ground.  But  in  such  case  the  grave  must  be 
defended  by  great  piles  of  stones  being  heaped  over 
them.  But  even  when  this  precaution  is  taken  the 
hyenas  will  often  find  a  weak  spot  and  dig  out  the 
37 


2QO     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

body  and  devour  it.     No  wonder  the  inhabitants 
detest  the  animal. 

As  we  have  said,  superstitions  abound  concerning 
the  hyena.  There  is  a  prevalent  idea  throughout 
Palestine  that  if  the  hyena  meets  a  solitary  man  at 
night  it  has  the  power  to  enchant  him  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  make  him  follow  it  through  thickets 
and  over  rocks  to  its  den,  or  until  he  is  exhausted 
and  falls  an  unresisting  prey.  But  they  claim  that 
on  two  persons  he  has  no  influence.  Therefore  a 
solitary  traveller  is  gravely  told  to  call  for  help  the 
moment  he  sees  a  hyena,  because  the  fascination  of 
the  beast  will  at  once  be  neutralized  by  the  presence 
of  the  second  person.  So  firmly  is  this  idea  vested 
in  their  minds  that  they  will  not  travel  by  night 
unless  they  can  have  at  least  one  companion.  As 
we  said,  our  dragomen  were  full  of  these  supersti- 
tions, and  would  tell  with  utmost  earnestness  stories 
they  had  heard  of  the  fatal  fascination  of  natives 
and  travellers.  They  claimed  that  the  hyenas  would 
come  up  even  to  the  edge  of  a  village  and  allure 
people  off  to  their  dens.  They  believe  that  a  light 
will  break  the  spell,  and  when  they  go  out  a  little 
way  they  take  a  torch  or  lantern. 


SUPPLEMENTAL  NOTES  291 


FAT-TAILED  SHEEP. 

Ley.  3 : 9,  "And  he  shall  offer  of  the  sacrifice  of  the  peace 
offering  an  offering  made  by  fire  unto  the  Lord;  the  fat 
thereof,  and  the  whole  rump,  it  shall  he  take  off  hard  by  the 
backbone;  and  the  fat  that  covereth  the  inwards,  and  all  the 
fat  that  is  upon  the  inwards." 

The  reference  here  is  to  the  severing  of  the  tail 
of  the  fat-tailed  sheep,  in  making  ready  a  sacrifice. 
It  was  one  of  the  interesting  sights  of  our  trip 
through  the  Holy  Land  to  occasionally  see  a  sheep 
of  this  famous  variety.  Frequent  reference  to  the 
fat  of  the  tail  is  made,  in  speaking  of  the  sheep,  in 
the  Scriptures,  but  in  terms  which  could  not  be  under- 
stood did  we  not  know  that  the  sheep  which  is  men- 
tioned is  the  long-tailed  variety.  Though  this  par- 
ticular breed  is  not  very  distinctly  mentioned  in  the 
Bible,  the  Talmudical  writers  have  many  allusions 
to  it.  In  the  Mishna  these  broad-tailed  sheep  are 
spoken  of  as  not  being  allowed  to  leave  their  folds 
on  the  Sabbath  day,  because  by  wheeling  their  little 
tail-wagons  behind  them  they  would  break  the  Sab- 
bath! (We  did  not  see  any  so  arranged.)  The 
writers  describe  the  tail  very  graphically,  comparing 
its  shape  to  that  of  a  saddle,  and  saying  that  it  is  fat, 
without  bones,  heavy  and  long,  and  looks  as  if  the 
whole  body  were  continued  beyond  the  hind  legs, 
and  thence  hung  down  in  place  of  a  tail. 


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The  Tent  and  the  Kahn,  by  R.  W.  Stewart. 

History  of  Jerusalem,  by  Walter  Besant. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  293 

The  Inner  Life  of  Syria,  by  R.  Burton. 

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The  Negeb  or  South  Country,  by  E.  Wilton. 

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Journeying  in  the  Old  World,  by  Bishop  J.  W. 
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Pen  and  Pencil  Pictures  of  the  Holy  Land,  by 
Dr.  J.  L.  Porter. 

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Modern  Science  in  Bible  Lands,  by  Sir  J.  W.- 
Dawson. 

Palestine  and  Its  Historical  Geography,  by  Dr.  A. 
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294     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

Early  History  of  Syria  and  Palestine,  by  L.  P. 
Paton. 

Family  Flight  Over  Egypt  and  Syria,  by  E.  E. 
Hale  and  Susan  Hale. 

Howadji  in  Syria,  by  Geo.  W.  Curtis. 

Historical  Geography  of  the  Holy  Land,  by  Prof. 
G.  A.  Smith. 

Palestine,  by  F.  L.  Goodspeed. 

Forbidden  Paths  in  the  Land  of  Og,  by  The 
Otherwise  Man. 

Syria  and  Egypt  from  the  Tell-el-Amarna  Let- 
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Syrian  Home  Life,  by  H.  H.  Jessup. 

The  Struggles  of  the  Nations;  Egypt,  Syria  and 
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Places,  by  Dr.  J.  L.  Porter.    Illustrated. 

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BIBLIOGRAPHY  295 

Saladin  and  the  Fall  of  the  Kingdom  of  Jerusa- 
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Jerusalem ;  Its  History  and  Hope,  by  Mrs.  Marg. 
Oliphant.     Illustrated. 

Jerusalem  the  Holy,  by  Edwin  Sherman  Wallace 
(late  U.  S.  Consul  at  Jerusalem). 

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vols. 

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Sinai  and  Palestine  in  Connection  with  Their 
History,  by  Dr.  A.  P.  Stanley.     Maps  and  plates. 

Dan  to  Beersheba,  by  John  P.  Newman,  LL.  D. 
Maps. 

Tent  Life  in  Syria  and  Holy  Land,  by  Prime. 

Through  Bible  Lands,  by  Dr.  Philip  Schaff. 

Wild  Flowers  of  the  Holy  Land,  by  Mrs.  H. 
Zeller. 

Biblical  Research  in  Palestine,  Mt.  Sinai  and 
Arabia  Petrea,  by  Dr.  Edw.  Robinson,  3  vols. 

The  Land  and  the  Book,  by  William  M.  Thomp- 
son. 

The  Gates  of  the  East,  by  Henry  C.  Potter,  D.  D. 

Women  of  the  Orient,  by  C.  Ross  Houghton. 
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296    THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

History  of  the  Jews,  by  Millman.  New  and  re- 
vised edition. 

FICTION. 

Barabbas,  by  Marie  Corelli. 

Philochristus,  by  Edwin  A.  Abbott. 

Prince  of  the  House  of  David,  by  Joseph  Holt 
Ingraham. 

A  Romance  of  Palestine,  by  A.  Fellah  Hassan. 

Story  of  the  Otherwise  Man,  by  Henry  Van  Dyke. 

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Richard  Coeur  de  Lion,  by  James  White. 

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Boy  Crusades,  by  John  George  Edwards. 

Count  Robert  of  Paris,  by  Sir  Walter  Scott. 

Talisman,  by  Sir  Walter  Scott. 

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Rescued  from  Egypt, by  Charlotte  Tucker  (Pseud., 
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BIBLIOGRAPHY.  297 

Spell  of  Ashtaroth,  by  Duffield  Osborne. 

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sic. 

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Pilgrim  Road  in  Palestine.    Missionary  Review, 
vol.  25,  p.  70. 
38 


298     THE  LAND   WHERE  JESUS  LIVED 

Pilgrims  of  Palestine.     Edinburgh  Review,  vol. 

177,  P-  63. 

Research  in  Palestine,  Past  and  Present,  by  C.  R. 
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Visit  to  Baalbec,  by  Bently,  vol.  31,  p.  385. 

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vol.  200,  p.  441. 

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Biblical  World,  vol.  II,  p.  5.     (January,  1898.) 

Emperor  William  in  the  Holy  Land,  by  S.  J. 
Curtis.  Cosmopolitan,  vol.  26,  pp.  363-78.  (Febru- 
ary, 1899.) 

The  Son  of  the  Carpenter,  by  Lyman  Abbott. 
Cosmopolitan,  vol.  16,  No.  5,  p.  515.-  (March, 
1894.) 


STUDIES    IN    HEARTS 

By  JULIA  MAC  NAIR  WRIGHT 

i2tno.     192  pages.     10  illustrations         .         .         .         j$c. 

Here  is  a  series  of  charming  sketches,  portraying  varied 
types  of  life,  and  revealing  on  the  part  of  the  distinguished 
author  a  deep  knowledge  of  the  human  heart  and  its  workings. 
These  sketches  will  be  read  with  great  interest,  for  they  are 
true  to  life,  and  present  those  phases  of  human  experience  which 
are  sure  to  strike  a  sympathetic  chord  in  every  nature. 


ALWYN    RAVENDALE 

By  EVELYN  EVERETT  GREEN 

j2tno.     }J5  pages.     Illustrated     ....         $1.25 

This  is  a  fascinating  story,  showing  the  growth  and  develop- 
ment of  an  attractive  boy  into  a  noble  Christian  young  man. 
The  plot  of  the  story  is  well  constructed,  and  the  interest  in 
its  denouement  is  sustained  in  an  admirable  manner. 


Railroading   With  Christ 

By  CHARLES  A.  S.  DWIGHT 

i2mo.     80  pages.     22  illustrations.     Cloth     .         .        35c. 

A  graphic  description  of  how  a  poor  boy  was  forced  by 
the  death  of  his  father,  through  a  railroad  accident,  to  go  to 
work.  After  reaching  manhood  he  begins  a  railroad  life  as  a 
freight  brakeman,  and  although  circumstances  seem  to  be 
against  him  from  the  start,  he  perseveres,  until  at  last,  after 
years  of  faithful  and  efficient  toil,  he  becomes  general  superin- 
tendent of  the  road. 


AMERICAN  TRACT  SOCIETY,  NEW  YORK 


Recollections  of  a  Long  Life 

An  Autobiography  by  Rev.  Theodore  L.  Cuyler,  D.D. 
i2mo.     Cloth.     Five  illustrations.      356  pages,  $1.50  net. 

Dr.  Cuyler  has  had  a  most  active  and  interesting  life, 
which,  combined  with  his  remarkable  memory  and  the  charm 
of  his  literary  style,  makes  his  autobiography  a  most  fascinating 
book. 


"In  this  wonderful  little  vol- 
ume, fresh  from  a  more  wonderful 
memory,  the  old  heroes,  orators, 
statesmen,  poets,  sages,  scholars, 
authors,  divines,  and  all  the  famous 
and  noble  men  and  women  of  the 
past  generation  seem  to  be  moving 
past  us  in  a  biographical  picture  from 
these  living  pages,  and  each  one  tells 
his  own  story  in  such  characteristic 
and  graphic  style  that  he  needs  no 
formal  introduction.  Get  it  and 
read  it.  It  is  real  life,  and  the  life  of 
a  great  and  good  man,  at  that.  It 
will  do  you  good,  and  prove  far 
more  helpful  than  ten  times  the 
amount  wasted  on  novels." 
— Christian  Work  and  Evangelist, 
New  York. 


"  The  reader  rises  from  the  perusal 
of  this  book  with  an  affectionate 
understanding  of  the  lovable  char- 
acter, the  serious  consecration  to 
service,  of  the  last  survivor  of  the 
great  American  clergymen  of  the 
last  generation."— Mail  and  Express, 
New  York. 

"The  volume  of  'Recollections' 
is  a  delightful  little  book.  We  might 
fill  columns  with  excerpts,  but  that 
would  be  injustice  to  a  volume  that 
should  be  read — not  reproduced." 
— Brooklyn  Eagle. 

"One  of  the  most  interesting  books 
that  it  has  been  ray  pleasure  to  read 
in  many  a  day.  ' — Jf.annette  L. 
Gilder  in  the  Chicago  Tribune. 


Why   We   Believe  the   Bible 

By  Henry  M.  King,  D.D.     i2mo.     222  pages.  $1.00 

The  Examiner  says  : 

"  Dr.  King's  book  will  help  the 
faith  and  promote  the  intelligence  of 
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Christian  Intelligencer  says : 

"  A  compact  and  delighttully  read- 
able treatment  of  the  Christian  evi- 
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reading." 


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"  Dr.  King's  presentation  of  the 
case  is  very  clear  and  cogent,  and 
the  book  deserves  a  wide  reading." 

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"  Will  be  found  very  helpful  to  the 
faith  of  its  readers  in  the  divine  origin 
and  trustworthiness  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures." 


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Little    Maid    Marigold 

By   ELEANOR   H.   STOOKE 

i2mo.     223  pages.     Illustrated       ....         75c. 

The  pages  of  this  charming  story  will  be  read  by  many 
with  keen  interest.  It  is  not  the  story  of  some  wonderful 
prodigy,  but  of  a  sweet  young  girl,  who  won  the  hearts  of  all 
with  whom  she  became  associated.  The  "  Little  Maid  "  will 
have  many  friends  as  soon  as  she  has  become  known  through 
the  pages  of  this  book.  It  is  a  story  not  merely  for  young 
girls,  though  it  is  of  a  girl,  but  for  young  people  generally. 


ELMCOVE 

By  Mrs.  HARRIET  A.  CHEEVER 

i2mo.    334  pages.     Illustrated   ....  $1.25 

This  is  a  story  of  the  power  exerted  by  a  lovely  girl* 
who  by  an  accident  became  a  confirmed  invalid  and  cripple. 
This  shut-in  one  was  able  to  affect  the  life  of  a  town  to  such 
an  extent  that  it  not  only  wrought  a  great  transformation 
in  a  church,  but  also  directly  affected  a  serious  and  stubborn 
labor  strike.  The  story  is  told  in  a  most  interesting  and 
straightforward  manner.  The  various  characters,  of  which 
there  are  a  number,  sustain  their  parts  well,  and  help  to  make 
the  narrative  most  interesting.  Sybil  Earle,  the  central  figure 
of  the  story,  bluff  old  Captain  Ranson,  faithful  Oliver  Bruce, 
and  others,  will  find  many  admirers  among  those  who  shall 
read  the  story.     It  will  not  fail  to  do  good  wherever  it  is  read. 


AMERICAN  TRACT   SOCIETY,  NEW  YORK 


What  Distinguished  Preachers  say  about 

"Soul  Winning  Stories" 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Cortland  Meyers,  Pastor  of  Baptist  Temple, 
Brooklyn,  New  York,  says  : 

"  '  Soul  winning  Stories '  is  another  point  of  contact  for  the 
power  of  God  in  reaching  the  hearts  of  men.  This  book  will  be 
the  creator  of  personal  workers  in  the  Kingdom  of  Christ.  Blessed 
is  the  man  in  whose  hand  it  rests,  and  whose  soul  it  inspires.'* 

Rev.  Dr.  William  F.  Warren,  President  of  Boston  University, 
writes  : 

"  'Soul  Winning  Stories '  is  a  volume  of  fascinating  interest 
to  the  Christian  reader.  No  right-minded  minister  can  read  it 
without  obtaining  fresh  inspiration  for  his  work." 

Rev.  Dr.  C.  C.  Bragdon,  President  of  La  Salle  Seminary, 
Auburndale,  Mass.,  says: 

"  The  book  must  be  an  inspiration  to  preacher  or  layman  who 
loves  God  and  is  hungry  for  souls,  and  will  make  many  hungry 
for  souls  who  are  not  so  now.  1  wish  every  preacher  in  the 
land  could  have  a  copy  !  " 

Rev.  Dr.  John  Balcom  Shaw,  the  Evangelistic  Pastor  of  the 
West  End  Presbyterian  Church,  writes  : 

"  I  have  just  completed  '  Soul  Winning  Stories  '  and  I  cannot 
tell  how  truly  I  have  enjoyed  it.  These  stones  are  so  interestingly 
told,  and  breathe  so  thoroughly  the  spirit  of  the  Gospel  that  I 
am  sure  they  will  wield  the  most  wholesome  influence.  1  wish 
every  Christian  man  and  woman  in  America  could  read  them, 
for  no  one  can  lay  down  the  book  without  a  deeper  desire  to  be 
a  winner  of  souls." 

The  Rev.  Dr.  J.  W.  Bashford,  President  of  the  Ohio  Wes- 
leyan  University  at  Delaware,  Ohio,  writes  : 

"  '  Soul  Winning  Stories,'  by  Louis  Albert  Banks,  have  the 
flavor  of  the  wild  West,  while  they  are  full  of  the  spirit  of  the 
Gospel.  They  are  an  Oregon  twentieth-century  version  of  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles.  Boys  will  read  them,  and  ministers  will 
be  profited  by  them." 

A  copy  of  "Soul  Winning  Stories  "will  be  sent,  postpaid,  upon 
receipt  of  $1.00.     It  is  bound  in  cloth,  and  contains  223  pages. 


AMERICAN     TRACT     SOCIETY,     NEW    YORK 


The   Glory   and  Joy 
of   the  Resurrection 


By  JAMES  PATON,  D.D.     Cloth,  277  pp. 


$1.00 


The  author  of  this  splendid  book  states  that  the  height  of 
his  ambition  is  that  to  devout  readers  of  his  book  "  there  may 
come  some  portion  of  the  glory  and  joy  which  manifestly  thrilled 
the  heart  and  fired  the  brain  of  the  followers  of  Jesus  in  those 
Early  Apostolic  Days." 

The  following  press  notices  will  give  some  idea  of  the 
author's  success  in  attaining  his  object,  viz. : 


"The  author  writes  with  the  deep 
spiritual  fervor  of  a  man  convinced 
of  the  reality  of  a  living  Christ." — 
The  Hookseller. 

"Many  will  be  strengthened  and 
blessed  in  reading  these  pages." — 
The  Christian  Guardian. 

"  The  volume  is  a  valuable  one  in 
its  contents,  and  written  in  a  style 
that  is  virile,  convincing  and  inspir- 
ing."—  The  Standard. 

"Biblical,  argumentative  and  de- 
votional."— Literary  World. 

"  A  unique  treatment  of  the  sub- 
ject of  the  Resurrection." — Christian 
Union  Herald. 

"All  will  be  thankful  to  Dr.  Paton 
for  his  systematic  and  helpful  presen- 
tation of  the  subject.''  —  Pittsburg 
Christian  Advocate. 

"Clear,  analytical  and  spiritually 
stimulating." —  /'/.«  Watchman. 

"Earnest,  devout  and  spiritual." 
—Christian  Intelligencer. 

"A  clear-cut  statement  of  the 
Scriptural  basis  for  a  belief  in  the 
Resurrection." —  Auburn  Seminary 
Review. 

"Scholarship  and  devotion  go  hand 
in  hand  in  this  book." — The  Living 
Church. 


"  Dr.  Paton  believes  in  th<_  Resur- 
rection, and  he  lifts  the  soul  of  his 
reader  on  the  same  wings  of  faith 
that  bear  him  up."  —  The  Morning 
Star. 

"The  reader  will  find  himself 
carried  along  by  both  his  arguments 
and  his  fervor."  —  The  Lutheran 
Observer. 

"Personal  conviction  of  the 
presence  of  a  living  Christ  may  be 
strengthened  by  this  book."  —  The 
Congre  gationalist . 

"This  volume  is  sure  to  do  great 
good  by  turning  the  thoughts  of 
many  to  this  great  and  glorious 
truth."  —  Western  Recorder. 

"A  valuable  study  of  the  Resur- 
rection."— Christian  Work  and 
Evangelist. 

"Time  spent  in  reading  this  book 
will  be  a  profitable  investment." — 
^Maryland  Christian  Endeavor. 

"  The  reader  will  be  surprised  and 
greatly  stirred  and  quickened  by  the 
accumulating  testimony  to  the  his- 
torical fact  and  its  vast  importance. 
At  the  close,  he  will,  with  the  author, 
bow  his  heart  and  worship  and  obey 
the  risen  and  glorified  Son  of  Man." 
— Central  Presbyterian. 


AMERICAN   TRACT  SOCIETY,   NEW  YORK 


BY   LEAPS    AND    BOUNDS 

New    Testament 
with   Notes    $1.00 

POCKET   EDITION 

'Printed  on   fine,  thin  paper,   bound  in   leather,  divinity 
circuit,  red  under  gold  edges.      Size,  5%x3%x%  inches. 

18  MONTHS  AGO  we  advertised  that  we  had  sold 
upwards  of  175,000  COPIES  of  the  New  Testament  with 
notes,  instructions  and  references.  6  MONTHS  AGO  we 
advertised  that  the  sales  of  this  book  amounted  to  185,000 
COPIES.  We  NOW  announce  the  book  as  having  sold 
up  to  t95,000  COPIES. 

Surely  a  book  of  this  character,  with  such  a  sale,  must 
have  merit. 

The  salient  feature  of  this  work  is,  that  on  the  same  page 
you  have  the  Scripture,  References  and  Commentary,  all  in 
such  a  convenient  size  that  it  can  be  carried  in  the  pocket. 

Oar  Aim  is  to  Sell    ONE   MILLION  COPIES 

Send  us  ONE  DOLLAR,  for  which  a  copy  will  be 
sent  you  postpaid,  and  we  are  sure  you  will  not  only  be 
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AMERICAN  TRACT  SOCIETY 

150  NASSAU  STREET  NEW  YORK 


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